This is short, but I figured it deserved more than a snarky comment in someone else's Swine Flu diary.
Oregon:
Oregon just registered its first case of a natural human-animal transmission of the H1N1 virus. Actually, it may be the first such recorded case anywhere, said Emilio DeBess, Oregon state public health veterinarian.
The full story is here
DeBess asked the vet to send in a sample of the ferret's nasal secretions. It was tested at an Oregon State University lab, which found genetic markers for the strain of H1N1 that's infecting humans. A lab of the U.S. Department for Agriculture confirmed the finding on Oct. 9.
This came as little surprise to DeBess. Ferrets, which are sensitive toward respiratory illness, have been used in labs to see how the flu will affect people, he said. But this may be the first case anywhere of a ferret catching the flu from its owner, without the help of lab technicians, he said.
The seriousness of this, of course, is the fact that this flu is transmittable between humans and animals...at least in one direction. Should it mutate in animal populations and come back to humans, then we could (and I'm certainly no medical expert so take my comments with a grain of salt) turn into something even nastier.
The ferret is recovering.
This is good news. I like those furry little rodents (okay, feel free to correct me if ferrets aren't actually rodents).
Update [2009-10-20 18:43:20 by darthstar]: Ferrets are not, in fact, rodents (AFA can leave me alone now)...
they're Mustela putorius furo...whatever the hell that means.
That's it. Sorry for the brevity, but god knows if I keep typing I'll say something I may come to regret (btw, I've always loved Barbara Streisand's voice)...aw, crap...too late.
Oh, and for the Pootie/Woozle people here...some reassurance.
"No known strain infects cats, and neither cats nor dogs can carry H1N1. "