Since at least the 1930s, ferrets have been recognized as extremely well-suited models for studying the pathogenicity and transmissibility of both human and avian influenza viruses. Ferrets are attractive mammalian models due to their relatively small size and other physiological features including the similarity of their lungs to humans, but particularly because they evidence numerous clinical features associated with human disease, especially influenza. Ferrets are highly susceptible to the influenza virus, and have become indispensable for elucidating virus-host interactions following influenza virus infection. However, unlike many other more traditional model organisms such as mice, ferrets are not standardized and often are sourced from diverse types of locales. As a result, standardization occurs via the experimental procedures utilized, via complex negotiations amongst the relatively small community of researchers currently studying them. Using published literature and fieldwork, these processes are explored, with special attention to how practices travel (or fail to do so) between labs, and how arguments are made about the generalizability and applicability of experimental results, given the relative lack of standardization inherent in the experimental system.
