Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / January 2004

Human rhinovirus, or the common cold, can pass between humans & great
apes. There are seven types of rhinovirus, human rhinovirus is only one.
So far as I know NONE of the seven forms are carried by hamsters, which
instead have their own "common cold" caused by a parvovirus.

Despite the widespread belief that it can also pass between humans &
hamsters, I've never found it asserted in any scientific paper or study,
only alleged in pop sources that allude to uncited studies. It is commonly
said that the hamster is the ONLY small mammal susceptible to human
rhinovirus, but this seems to be only folklore that has been so often
repeated that many semi-credible sources repeat it without giving evidence
that it is so. The hamster newsgroup has at long intervals repeated the
"hamsters were used in the 1950s to study human rhinovirus" but each time
someone asks for even one citation, none are ever forthcoming. I'm
crossposting to that group in case there's someone who can come up with
better this time.

The fact that children & their hamsters commonly get colds at about the
same time leads to many "personal experiences" that "prove" they got it
from each other. But hamster colds, to which they are fairly susceptible,
are caused by a parvovirus, & this has caused them to be used in
respiratory research as study models, though it is not human rhinovirus
but the rodent parvovirus that is being studied for whatever comparative &
parallel value it may have for understanding human rhinovirus.

The idea that hamsters can get human rhinovirus is asserted so often that
I have almost been convinced from time to time, except for the
illusiveness of the purported studies that seem not actually to exist. I
would certainly like to see these studies if they exist, but periodic
searches for even one have netted me nothing. Many respiratory studies are
done with rabbits, hamsters, & other lab species, but none that I can find
for human rhinovirus per se. If anyone can bring my attention to something
scientific I've missed, I would welcome the evidence.

It is also "well known" among ferret owners, though it's completely
untrue, that ferrets are susceptible to human rinovirus. They are not. But
they are susceptible to a number of their own viral diseases that give
them symptoms identical to human rhinovirus infections in people. Most
people who believe they gave their ferret their human cold actually saw
their pet go through a bout of ferret influenza or piconavirus infection.
When pet & human illnesses happen close together, it is emotionally
difficult not to imagine even the unlikeliest cause & effect.

There are however some severe & potentially terrifying respiratory
illnesses that can cross species barriers, including pasturella pneumonia,
& even a form of hemorrhagic fever (lymphatic choriomeningitis) that is
more common in children than in adults because they can get it from pet
hamsters or pet mice, & potentially deadly flu-like & hematopoetic
infections such as Rat-bite fever.

If parents were given lists of the number of zoonotic diseases one could
POTENTIALLY (even though rarely) get from a pet rodent (or a similar list
of zoonotic diseases that pass between humans & their dogs or cats), many
would never let anyone in their family touch any animal ever again --
though the number of people who get sick from their pets diminishes to
inconsequential compared to what we get from each other, so if anything
it's other people we should never go near.

-paghat the ratgirl