For these reasons, the rationale for a policy that allows for a period of confinement and observation of ferrets that have bitten is unclear to me. Although an animal that has been vaccinated against rabies and lacks a history of exposure to rabid animals is unlikely to be infected with rabies, such a scenario does not totally eliminate the possibility of the disease in the animal. Therefore, well vaccinated dogs and cats that bite a person are confined and observed for ten days to provide assurance that the animal was not shedding rabies virus when it bit and to allow for timely administration of the postexposure treatment to the bitten person. Unfortunately, we do not know how long to confine and observe a ferret to give the same assurance. I believe the public health community's concerns about the risk of rabies from ferrets are justified.
Ferrets do get rabies.
In addition, rabies virus has been documented in the salivary glands of both experimentally and naturally infected ferrets. In Virginia, the Code of Virginia assigns the authority for deciding how to manage a potentially rabid animal that bites, or otherwise exposes a person, to the discretion of the local health department. In making the decision on whether to euthanize or confine the biting animal, the health director takes into consideration what is known about rabies in that particular species, the history of the animal, the amount of rabies in the area, and the type of exposure. In most cases, unless the health director has some way of verifying that there has been no opportunity for exposure, he or she will err on the side of protecting the bitten person, not saving the life of the ferret. The issue of verifying the exposure history is difficult.