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A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
[1] North Carolina: wildlife
[2] Georgia: equine
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[1] North Carolina: wildlife
Date: Tue 7 Apr 2009
Source: The Cherokee Scout [edited]
A rabid fox ran inside a house and bit a man at least twice on 30 Mar
2009. The victim, who lives near Fields of the Wood, was asleep about
7:15 a.m. when he heard scratching at his front door. Thinking it was
his cat, he opened the door. A fox immediately ran in and bit his big
toe. "It was a big fox and madder than hell," the victim said on 1
Apr 2009. "I thought it was my cat. I opened the door, and it
attacked me." He kicked the fox across the room and it went on a
rampage, running all over the house before it came back and grabbed
his other foot. He then kicked the fox again, then grabbed a mop
handle and killed the fox. "It was running wide open," he said. "I
kicked it and it never slowed down. It bit plumb through my big toe."
The victim called [neighbor] Michael Stiles, who looked at his foot
and told him to get to the emergency room. Stiles cut the fox's head
off and made sure it was sent off for testing. The next night, 31 Mar
2009, the victim received news that the fox was rabid. He received 5
[vaccine] shots for rabies and said he must have 5 more [This must be
a mistake; only 5 shots are needed, spread over 28 days, not just a
week -- see below - Mod.CP/JW].
The fox was the 6th confirmed case of rabies in Cherokee County this
year [2009], all occurring since 16 Mar 2008, when a large dog fought
and killed a raccoon in Peachtree. This was the 1st confirmed rabid
fox this year. The others have been raccoons, said Philip Anderson,
who is in charge of the Cherokee County Health Department's rabies
prevention program. There were 20 confirmed cases in the county in
2008. This was the 2nd confirmed case in Hiwassee Dam, the 1st being
a raccoon south of Hiwassee Dam School.
Jim Weller, who lives on Shoal Creek Road, said a fox was sitting at
the end of his driveway during the day. The fox tried to get up but
couldn't. "I could tell it was sick, so I shot it," Weller said. He
called the health department, but since they couldn't send anyone
immediately, he buried the fox. The next day, health department
personnel came and dug the fox up, Weller said.
Rabies cases have been spread all over the county with the exception
of the Andrews and Marble areas, Anderson said. He has collected 36
animals for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a rabies
surveillance program in an attempt to convince the USDA that an oral
rabies vaccine drop [to immunize wildlife] is needed. Anderson said
USDA has collected 30 of the animals, which are animals that haven't
been proven to have bitten other animals or people and include animals
found dead on the roads. "We haven't heard back from [USDA] on any of
the animals," Anderson said. "We have been doing this [since August
2008]. I didn't expect this [long of a] delay."
The oral vaccination drop consists of plastic packets containing the
Raboral V-RG rabies vaccine which are dropped into selected areas by
airplane. The packets are sprinkled with fishmeal coating or encased
in fishmeal so they are eaten by wildlife. Animals that swallow an
adequate dose of the vaccine develop immunity to rabies. As the
proportion of vaccinated animals in the population increases, they
act as a buffer to stop spread of the disease to other wildlife,
domestic animals and people.
Anderson said rabies cases in Cherokee County seem to be escalating.
At this time last year [2008], there were only 2 confirmed cases of
[wildlife] rabies in the county. He got an e-mail from an USDA
representative who said the incidence of rabies in Polk and Monroe
counties in Tennessee have decreased. A bait drop was done in those
counties in September or October 2008.
Anderson asked people to be careful around strange-acting animals,
especially raccoons and foxes, which are not normally seen during the
day. Anderson said he has received calls from people long after they
killed a strange-acting animal and disposed of it. Anderson urged
people to call the health department in such cases. It will cost them
nothing. There will be a rabies clinic on Sat 16 May 2009 at various
locations across the county. A pet who hasn't been vaccinated for
rabies must be quarantined for 6 months before it is freed. Three
different families in Cherokee County have German shepherd dogs
quarantined because they came in contact with rabid animals. All 3
seem to be doing OK, and one is almost ready to come off quarantine,
Anderson said.
[Byline: Dwight Otwill]
Communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts via
ProMED-mail
[This report reveals a certain lack of urgency on the part of the
responsible authorities to respond to an increased risk of
transmission of rabies virus from wildlife to the human population.
The Raboral V-RG oral vaccine, which is a derivative of the
Copenhagen strain of vaccinia virus engineered to express the
immunogenic G protein of rabies virus, has been used successfully to
control wildlife rabies by air-dropped bait elsewhere in the United
States and to eradicate rabies entirely from much of Western Europe
by targeted habitat seeding.
Contrary to the statement in the preceding text, according to the CDC
website, post-exposure vaccination consists of a regimen of 5 1-mL
doses of HDCV or PCEC vaccines administered intramuscularly to
previously unvaccinated persons. The 1st dose of the 5-dose course
should be administered as soon as possible after exposure. Additional
doses should be administered on days 3, 7, 14, and 28 after the 1st
vaccination. For adults, the vaccination should always be
administered intramuscularly in the deltoid area (arm). For children,
the anterolateral aspect of the thigh is also acceptable. The gluteal
area should never be used for rabies vaccine injections, because
observations suggest administration in this area results in lower
neutralizing antibody titers.
Hiwassee Dam, North Carolina can be located in the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of the United States at:
- Mod.CP]
******
[2] Georgia: equine
Date: 7 Apr 2009
Source: Independent mail.com [edited]
3 members of a Franklin County family are undergoing treatment
for rabies prevention after it was discovered their horse had the
disease.
The family owns a farm on [route] SR 327 in Franklin Springs and
involves 2 adults and a 7-year-old child.
The news of the county's 1st horse rabies case came Friday [3 Apr
2009] afternoon to the Franklin County Health Department.
"Late Friday [3 Apr 2009], I got a call from the University of
Georgia letting me know they had a horse that had been sent down
there that had tested positive for rabies," said Louis Korff,
Environmental Health manager for the Franklin County Health
Department. "This horse had lived over in the Victoria Bryant Park
area and had never been vaccinated. When I asked the family if the
horse had been vaccinated for rabies, they were surprised you could
vaccinate a horse."
While rabies is relatively rare in horses, Korff said horses as well
as dogs, cats, and other warm-blooded mammals are at risk for rabies
if not vaccinated.
"All horse owners should have their animals vaccinated against rabies
and keep them up because here's a classic example. Some skunk or
raccoon went out there and bit that horse and gave it rabies," he
said. "The horse got sick, and the humans tending to the horse got
themselves exposed. Now I have 2 adults and a 7-year-old child
getting post-exposure shots and going through a lot of emotional
trauma, which could have been avoided by a [horse] vaccination."
The family told Korff the elderly horse was a beloved family pet and
had recently stopped eating and drinking water.
According to the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture's
Cooperative Extension Service, signs of rabies in horses can be hard
to diagnose. The main sign to watch for is any behavioral change in
the horse.
Historically, initial signs have been categorized as "furious" and
"paralytic" or "dumb."
"Horses are more likely to get the "dumb" version of it. This horse
stopped eating and stopped drinking water. That's what led to the
people trying to help the horse. They were feeding it and trying to
get it to drink water and were exposed to the disease while the horse
was shedding the virus," Korff said.
The family is now undergoing a series of 5 expensive injections to
prevent them from contracting rabies, which is always fatal in humans.
"You 1st get a human immuno-globulin shot then a series of 4 [actually
5] post-exposure shots," Korff said. Those shots for humans run about
USD 1500 for the series for each
person, according to Korff.
[Byline: MJ Kneiser]
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland
[Rabies is more common in horses than the writer of the article realizes.
It is important to understand rabies has different forms, as
mentioned in the article, but the name of the form is not nearly as
important as recognizing a change in your animal's behavior, posture,
and attitude. A normally quiet animal that is suddenly aggressive or
an aggressive animal that is quiet and withdrawn are both major
changes to be noted and respected as possible rabies.
I have always advocated vaccinating horses and even cattle,
especially if they are pets or show animals, because we are around
them so much. A rabies preventative is the cheapest insurance for the
family. It would have prevented the post-exposure shots they are now
taking and would have prevented the loss of the horse. - Mod.TG]
[All suspected rabid animals have to be killed and their brains sent
to a rabies lab for confirmation. - Mod.JW]
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