>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
