WARNING! Rabies is real!
WARNING! Rabies is real!
Note: We simultaneously received an email from Barbara in Nashville, concerned about raccoons living in their walls—which is not uncommon for these creatures. I warned her that raccoons are a prime vector for rabies, and their poop is poisonous! Luckily, she was already dealing sensibly with their removal. I can’t afford to lose a listener!
Back to NBC: {quote}: “Six deaths from rabies have been reported over the last 12 months in the U.S., the highest number in years, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We are currently tracking 15 different outbreaks,” said Dr. Ryan Wallace, who leads the rabies team at the CDC. Areas with outbreaks include Nassau County, Cape Cod, Alaska, Arizona, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont.
“We’re definitely getting more reports,” Wallace said, noting an increase of rabid foxes in the West and rabid bats across the country. “Right now, at peak rabies season, it does seem that activity is higher.”
Bats are the most common cause of rabies infection in people and are also the most likely species to be infected with the virus, according to the CDC.
Each year, 1.4 million Americans are checked for possible exposure to the rabies virus and 100,000 receive a series of vaccine injections to prevent them from becoming ill.
Last month, twenty-two-year-old Samantha Lang became one of them, likely bitten by a bat in her apartment in Greenwood, Indiana. She discovered the bat, alive, hanging from her air conditioning vent the day after she noticed tiny marks on her arm. After contacting her local health department, she was urged to receive rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, which she got immediately. (On video she showed a very unusual rash at the site of the bite.)
The rabies virus invades the central nervous system and is almost always fatal once symptoms start. Those early symptoms may resemble the flu and progress quickly to confusion, paralysis, salivating, hallucinations and difficulty swallowing, followed by death within weeks.
The number of human deaths over the last year is concerning, say experts.
One of the more dramatic increases in wildlife infections has been in Franklin County, North Carolina, which experienced a doubling of confirmed cases in wild animals over the past year.
“It’s a big deal for the number of confirmed cases to go up 100% when we’re not even over this year’s rabies season,” said Scott LaVigne (La-Veen), the county’s health director. LaVigne suspects that the urban growth that’s been encroaching on wild animal habitats has been an important factor driving the spread of rabies.
“The population of Franklin County has increased 35% since 2010, and those people have to live somewhere,” he said, “so you’re seeing increased land development and housing. Animals that might have been isolated before are now crowded together, and if one gets rabies, it’s likely to spread to others in the group.”
The virus can manifest itself in different ways. Most people expect a rabid animal to be aggressive and vicious, but sometimes the infected animal can be quite docile.
“There’s a strain of rabies where the animals get very, very friendly,” LaVigne said. “One family had a sick raccoon show up on their front step and he was so cute and wanted to be petted. And you know, when raccoons aren’t baring their teeth they are pretty cute.”
The family petted and fed the animal until it died. They called animal services to pick up the body “and {quote} ‘thank God they did’, because when they sent the brain out to be tested, it was positive, and the whole family had to get vaccinated,” LaVigne said, adding they never would have known if they hadn’t called animal services.”
“As rabies seems to be spreading more in wildlife, veterinarians are especially worried about vaccine hesitancy spreading among pet owners, a dangerous trend that could lead to more dogs — and their owners — becoming infected. A disturbing 2023 study published in the journal Vaccine found that nearly 40% of Americans believed canine vaccines were unsafe and 37% believed they could lead their dogs to develop cognitive issues, such as autism. (Say WHAT?)
“It’s an issue we’re worried about, and one that could be on the rise in the future. If we continue to see plummeting vaccination rates or increasing vaccine hesitancy, we’re going to have to sound alarms.”
Rabies vaccines after exposure have come a long way since the shots were injected into people’s abdomens. The current series involves an injected dose of immunoglobulin containing rabies antibodies immediately after exposure, followed by four shots, which are now given in the arm.
The rule of thumb, experts say, is that rabies should be suspected any time a wild animal is behaving in an aberrant way, whether it’s too aggressive, too fearless or too friendly.”
McGrath here: This follows the case of a 60-year-old California schoolteacher who found a bat in her classroom, PICKED IT UP WITH HER BARE HANDS, and was bitten so slightly she didn’t notice it before she let it go outside. She died on November 22nd of last year.
Please: don’t approach wild animals under any circumstances, immediately report any bites or scratches to a physician, and PLEASE, PLEASE get your pets vaccinated. Don’t let fake science and dangerous rumors prevent you from protecting your pet—and your family. They’re depending on you to protect them.
References:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-teacher-dies-rabies-month-bitten-bat-classroom-rcna182670
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/never-known-warnings-rabies-outbreaks-090000294.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rabies-outbreaks-rising-us-deaths-vaccine-rcna227771
https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/php/protecting-public-health/index.html
