Valley rabies cases decline

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Health official: Data doesn't tell whole story

By Kaitlin Mayhew -- kmayhew@nvdaily.com

While incidents involving rabid animals are on the rise across Virginia, confirmed cases are actually down in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

Statistics, however, don't necessarily reflect the true extent of a community's rabies problem, according to April Jenkins of the Winchester Health Department.

The agency must test an animal for rabies in order for the case to be documented by the agency, Jenkins said.

"If we don't have the animal, we can't assume that it was rabid," she said.

Statewide, 314 confirmed rabies incidents were reported during the first six months of 2011, a 20 percent increase over the 261 cases reported during the same period in 2010, according to state Health Department statistics.

Meanwhile, the number of reported cases have dropped in the region, with 13 cases reported so far this year in Warren, Frederick, Clarke and Shenandoah counties, compared to 25 cases during the first half of 2010. No cases were reported in Winchester.

In any case, Jenkins recommends that people take caution, especially with their children and pets during the hottest summer months when rabies is most prevalent.

"The best thing that parents can do is to teach their children not to come into contact with wild animals, or even domesticated animals without first asking a parent," Jenkins said. "You don't just walk up and pet a wild animal."

The most effective way to protect pets is to keep their rabies vaccinations up to date.

Both cats and dogs need an initial rabies vaccine at 3 months of age. The first vaccination lasts for one year, when they need a booster shot. After that, they must be vaccinated every three years.

If a pet comes into contact with a rabid animal, the pet will be given an additional booster shot and the Health Department usually will do a 10-day quarantine to make sure the pet shows no signs of the disease, according to Joyce Metz from Royal Oak Animal Clinic in Front Royal.

"They do it just to be safe, especially if it's an injury to the face," Metz said.

A pet that hasn't been vaccinated will usually begin show signs of the disease within 10 days of coming into contact with a rabid animal, Metz said.

Because there is an incubation period, however, symptoms could show up as late as six months afterward.

The unvaccinated pet is usually put to sleep if there is reasonable evidence that the other animal was rabid.

"It's a public safety issue," Metz said.

Metz said she often finds people aren't educated about rabies vaccination, not knowing how often their pets should be immunized or thinking their animals are up to date when they aren't.

The best way to tell that an animal has rabies is noting bizarre behavior, such as a raccoon being outside in the middle of the day, Jenkins said.

She advises people against picking up stray animals.

"It's hard because they're so cute and fluffy and soft, but you don't pick up strays," Jenkins said. "People will say all the time that they picked up the animal, it scratched or bit them and they let go of it so now they don't have it."

Without the animal to test, it's impossible to tell if a patient has rabies, and the treatment usually is applied just to be safe.

Treatment of rabies for humans is a series of four shots, a rabies immune globulin that begins protection right away, and then three vaccinations spread over three days.

Jenkins said that it can potentially be up to six shots, depending on the weight of the patient.

The treatment is very effective if applied early. Jenkins said she was not aware of any cases in which a human contracted rabies after treatment.

Animals that carry rabies include raccoons, bats, foxes and skunks. Two of the reported cases in the area involved skunks, 10 involved raccoons and one a fox.