RABIES, RACCOON - USA (MASSACHUSETTS)
{{Everyone remember the rabies fears? This will make your hair stand up on the back of your neck!}}
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org Date: 4 Mar 2004
A 10-year stand by state and local health officials against rabies on Cape Cod broke down this week when an infected raccoon was found in Bourne.
State health officials confirmed the case yesterday, after testing [the brain of] the battle-scarred raccoon captured by Michael Tarlow at his residence on Monday. The barking of Tarlow's dogs did not scare off the sickly looking raccoon. Normal raccoons would be deterred from a yard with barking dogs.
Tarlow called the Bourne Department of Natural Resources, but the raccoon was gone by the time anyone could respond.
When the raccoon returned Monday morning, more listless than before and with discharge visible on the bridge of its nose, Tarlow dropped a plastic recycling bin over it and called the town for help.
A natural resources officer picked up the animal and delivered it to Robert Pritchard of Ace Wildlife Removal Services in Bourne.
The face of the captured raccoon, a 5-year-old male, was scratched and cut, indications that it fought with another animal, Pritchard said.
The animal was euthanized and the body sent to a state lab in Jamaica Plain, MA for testing.
Rabid raccoons have been lifted from the water of the Cape Cod Canal and captured on the north side of the canal in recent years, but never before on the Cape side.
"Nothing had breached the barrier until now," said Bourne Health Agent Cynthia A. Coffin. "Bourne is the sentinel of the Cape."
No domestic animals or humans are believed to have been exposed to the rabid raccoon, Coffin said. But she and other local health officials acknowledged they do not know whether this is an isolated case or if other rabid animals remain at large.
Rabies is a virus that affects the brain and the central nervous system of mammals. It is fatal if not treated quickly. [Animals are not treated to cure rabies, as there is no cure in animals. Animals believed to harbor the
disease are euthanized and the brains tested. Humans who have been exposed may be given immunoglobulins, as a post exposure prophylaxis, which is not actually a treatment. - Mod.TG]
County and state health officials are worried that if rabies encroaches into animal populations on Cape Cod, it could pose a risk to domestic pets and, eventually, people. [Hopefully, they are vaccinating domestic animals
against rabies on a regular basis. This would certainly decrease the risk of spread in both animals and humans. - Mod.TG]
The issue also has "enormous" economic implications for town animal control and health departments, since they will have to investigate, track, and capture animals suspected of being infected, according to Dr. Steven
Rowell, hospital director at Tufts Veterinary School in Grafton. Rowell is the director of the 10-year-old Cape Cod Oral Rabies Vaccination Program, in which researchers have dropped vaccinated bait along both sides of the
Cape Cod Canal to try to keep the disease at bay. [It becomes an economic issue because the Cape Cod area has tremendous tourism income. - Mod.TG]
It is recognized around the nation as a model prevention program, he said.
While there has never been a case of a land mammal with rabies on Cape Cod, rabid bats have lived on or visited the Cape for years, according to Coffin.
Rabies in raccoons and skunks was first seen in Massachusetts in 1992. Rabies in bats has been in the state for much longer.
Since 1992, 3893 animals have tested positive for the disease statewide. Most were raccoons and skunks, followed by far fewer cases in cats, foxes, and woodchucks.
There have been no reported cases of human infection during that time in the state. One case was reported in 1983 in a person infected by a dog in Africa. From 1992 to 2002, 32 cases of rabies in humans from 18 states were
reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This week's confirmed rabies case comes 9 months after state budget cuts trimmed $40 000 from the $100 000 annual Cape Cod oral vaccination program.
State Sen. Robert O'Leary, D-Barnstable, yesterday called the cuts "penny wise and pound foolish," and said the confirmed case proves the full funding was necessary to keep rabies off Cape Cod.
The lab informed Bourne officials yesterday morning the raccoon had tested positive for rabies, according to Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of the state health department's epidemiology program. Rowell surmised the rabid raccoon walked across one of the bridges spanning
the canal, either foraging for food or because it was already sick and disoriented.
Rowell yesterday said he was not about to concede the region to rabies because of one animal. "I'm not ready to give up yet," he said. "My hope is (other possibly infected animals) will come into contact with animals we
vaccinated last year and it will die out."
Even so, local officials are not taking any chances.
A contingency plan the county and the state have had in place ever since the oral vaccination program began will be implemented. Possibly as early as today, O'Brien, Rowell and a group of volunteers will toss from cars
3500 of the vaccinated 1-square-inch fish meal baits in the area where the sick raccoon was found. If possible, they will go as far as Sandwich and Falmouth, he said.
On Monday, health agents and animal control officers from the Cape's 15 towns will meet to coordinate a Cape-wide response.
Health officials urged residents to make sure their pets' rabies vaccinations are current.