Rabies Response
Guilford County has had 18 cases of rabies so far this year, mostly in raccoons and bats, though a rabid coyote was captured at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park earlier this month after it attacked a woman and her dog.
The United States Department of Agriculture will begin dropping rabies vaccines baits next month in five counties in western North Carolina in hopes of stopping the westward spread of the disease. The idea is that raccoons, who are not picky eaters, will ingest the baits and be inoculated against the virus. The baits are about the size of a ketchup packet from a fast-food restaurant and have been coated with fish meal, a smell that attracts raccoons.
The USDA hopes that 30 percent of the raccoons in those counties will take the vaccine. But in a program last year, only about 4 percent of the raccoons tested had antibodies to the virus, indicating they had taken the bait. One of the problems, a USDA official said, is that raccoons found plenty of food in nature last year and didn’t have to resort to baits.
If you haven’t had your pet vaccinated against rabies, don’t put it off.
Once a pet is bitten by an animal with rabies, there are only two options: euthanize the pet or keep it in quarantine for six months. A veterinarian interviewed by the News & Record last week said most people opt to have the animal euthanized. They can’t bear the emotional roller-coaster of waiting for six months. Keeping an animal quarantined for that long can cost thousands of dollars.
The Guilford County Animal Shelter offers low-cost rabies clinics several times a year. Their number is 336.297.5020.
Rabies is a viral infection of the central nervous system, meaning it affects the brain. The test most commonly used for rabies – the direct fluorescent antibody test – requires brain tissue. The test can only be performed after the animal is dead.
So get the vaccine. It costs as little as $5 and a few minutes of your time.
For more information on rabies, go to: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/rabies/orv/index.html
Guilford County has had 18 cases of rabies so far this year, mostly in raccoons and bats, though a rabid coyote was captured at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park earlier this month after it attacked a woman and her dog.
The United States Department of Agriculture will begin dropping rabies vaccines baits next month in five counties in western North Carolina in hopes of stopping the westward spread of the disease. The idea is that raccoons, who are not picky eaters, will ingest the baits and be inoculated against the virus. The baits are about the size of a ketchup packet from a fast-food restaurant and have been coated with fish meal, a smell that attracts raccoons.
The USDA hopes that 30 percent of the raccoons in those counties will take the vaccine. But in a program last year, only about 4 percent of the raccoons tested had antibodies to the virus, indicating they had taken the bait. One of the problems, a USDA official said, is that raccoons found plenty of food in nature last year and didn’t have to resort to baits.
If you haven’t had your pet vaccinated against rabies, don’t put it off.
Once a pet is bitten by an animal with rabies, there are only two options: euthanize the pet or keep it in quarantine for six months. A veterinarian interviewed by the News & Record last week said most people opt to have the animal euthanized. They can’t bear the emotional roller-coaster of waiting for six months. Keeping an animal quarantined for that long can cost thousands of dollars.
The Guilford County Animal Shelter offers low-cost rabies clinics several times a year. Their number is 336.297.5020.
Rabies is a viral infection of the central nervous system, meaning it affects the brain. The test most commonly used for rabies – the direct fluorescent antibody test – requires brain tissue. The test can only be performed after the animal is dead.
So get the vaccine. It costs as little as $5 and a few minutes of your time.
For more information on rabies, go to: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ws/rabies/orv/index.html
posted by Brenda Hiles | 7:36 PM
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