Hmmm...I remember Julian saying that there are no known viruses that affect
gerbils. Of course that doesn't mean it's impossible, but there have not
been any scientifically identified. I have read scientific information on
hamsters and their susceptibility to some cold viruses, but I don't believe
the same is true for gerbils. It's possible that, in cases where gerbils
appear to "catch" a human cold, that there is actually a bacterial
component to the illness the human and that is what affects the animal.
Bacterial illness can most definitely be passed from humans to animals.
Jill
----------
> From: Deb Rebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: Re: eye problems
> Date: Thursday, February 08, 2001 9:17 AM
>
> >Just wondering where you got the information that gerbils can catch
human
> >colds- viruses are by and large species specific. In all my years of
caring
> >for gerbils and doing my pre-veterinary work, I've never heard this. I'd
> >like to see what source has this information and how they explain it.
> >Thanks,
> >Jill
>
>
> Julian Barker has all the excellent text and article references...
> I will defer to him to offer up such things.
>
> >From our last go-rounds here I did not save any of his replies
> so I can't forward them to you myself.
>
> Hamsters and gerbils can catch human colds and vice versa;
> chinchillas can't. I have had colds go through my rodentry and
> really cause death and destruction.
>
> I know that most diseases are one host specific...but some
> can and do cross barriers and survive and thrive in multiple
> hosts. Else a lot of the research over the years in medicine
> and pharmaceuticals with animals for the benefit of humans
> would not have been possible.
>
> I don't know if you remember the 'swine flu'....it crossed
> the barrier in Asia from pigs to humans, then spread. It
> was a flu virus...
>
> Deb
> Rebel's Rodent Ranch
>
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