Rabies Season

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Rabies Season

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Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2573
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 16 5:58 pm Post subject: Rabies Season

It's rabies season again and it looks like this summer will be more serious than usual - though not like non-vaccinate places like Africa and India.

A dead feral cat was found about a week ago here in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Tested, found rabid. A couple of days ago, another rabid feral cat. Rabid raccoon.

A rabid woodchuck attacked a family's pet potbellied pig. Pig is in quarantine, family has had post-exposure treatment. https://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2016/07/rabid_animals_reported_in_old_bridge_spotswood.html

BTW - the only way to test is to kill the animal and examine the brain. Quarantine is possible but doubt it is employed for wild / feral animals.

It is mandated that pet dogs and cats be vaccinated against rabies. My indoor only cats are vaccinated, using the Pure-Vax good-for-three-years vaccine. Livestock should also receive rabies vaccine.

There is an oral vaccine Raboral-VG, https://www.raboral.com/Pages/index.aspx, suitable for raccoons, gray fox, and coyotes. None for feral cats and skunks.

Not good.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 16 6:27 pm Post subject:
Uggh. Hope it doesn't touch you and yours.

frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 16 6:42 pm Post subject:
Sounds nasty

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46247
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Jul 09, 16 10:04 pm Post subject:

stay safe,tis a horrid virus.

although we don�t seem to have much of a problem with the strain endemic elsewhere which can infect quite a variety of mammals we do have a pool of a rabies type virus among the bat population .

as our bats are insect hunters it is only those who handle them for conservation /scientific reasons or are daft enough to pick up a poorly one they find somewhere without stout gloves seem to be at risk.
there have been fatalities to bat handlers.

animals which travel to or come back from abroad need to be immunised but the uk has been a "rabies free zone" for about a century and has only fairly recently accepted immunisation as ok rather than a compulsory 6 mt quarantine for any potential carrier coming into the uk.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2573
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Sun Jul 10, 16 12:27 am Post subject:
Rabies can be prevented. It cannot be cured. More than you probably wanted to know about rabies: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/220967-overview

buzzy

Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 16 12:59 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

Only one fatality in the UK according to the Bat Conservation Trust, and only one in Europe, as far as I know.

The rabies-type virus has only been found in UK in one species (which was the species that bit the bat-handler in UK).

Most of the British species are not strong enough to pierce human skin. I have been nipped by several small bats and they didn't draw blood. One of the bigger species did give me a hard bite (my fault, I overstepped its comfort zone whilst handling it) and I'm still here.

However, if you should be bitten by a bat, wash the bite thoroughly and consult your GP. Keep the bat.

I realise the situation in other parts of the world is very different with regard to animal bites.

Henry

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