- It does appear that there is an increase in rabies cases
both in the US and abroad. Across Europe throughout Russia and across the
US from DC to Chicago to Wyoming and into California.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail, a program of the International
Society for Infectious Diseases www.isid.org
-
- Rise In Rabid Bat Numbers Spurs Health Alert
By S.A. Miller
Washington Times
9-8-4
- A sharp increase in the number of rabid bats found in
the District prompted city officials to issue a health alert yesterday
advising residents to "bat-proof" their homes and stay away from
bats and other wild animals.
-
- The Health Department during August 2004 found 14 rabid
bats flying around inside homes, bringing the total for the year to 15
-- the highest tally since at least 1999. The agency usually finds 1 or
2 bats a year infected with the deadly rabies virus.
-
- More bats end up in homes this time of year because young
bats are venturing off on their own and people leave doors and windows
open. Anyone coming into contact with a bat should alert the health department
and consult a physician.
-
- "We are asking residents to take extra precautions
to avoid exposure," interim Health Department Director Herbert R.
Tillery stated in a press release announcing the health alert. "A
few people die of rabies each year in the United States because they did
not recognize the risk of rabies from a bite of a wild animal and did not
seek medical advice."
-
- Mr. Tillery urged residents to avoid physical contact
with bats or other wild animals, keep pets' rabies vaccinations up-to-date
and "bat-proof" dwellings by closing doors and windows, fixing
broken window screens and securing loose shingles, vents, chimneys and
other possible access points.
-
- The agency also found 8 rabid raccoons and 4 rabid cats
so far in 2004 in the District, but authorities say bats are the most common
source of human rabies.
-
- The rabies virus is transmitted in saliva from animals
to humans, usually through an animal bite but in rare cases from getting
infected saliva in an open wound, fresh abrasion or the mucous membrane
of the nose, mouth or eye.
-
- Early symptoms of rabies in humans are nonspecific, consisting
of fever, headache, and general malaise. As the disease progresses, neurological
symptoms may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis,
excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing
and hydrophobia or fear of water, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). Death usually occurs within days of the onset
of symptoms.
-
- There is no treatment for rabies after symptoms appear,
though a vaccine can fend off rabies if it is administered before or soon
after exposure. About 58 000 people receive the rabies vaccine each year,
according to a CDC Web site on rabies: <http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies>.
-
- Recent improvements to the rabies test used by the health
department could explain the increased numbers this year, but that does
not diminish the public health risk indicated by the data, said Peggy Keller,
interim director of the agency's community hygiene bureau. "It is
still a great number and there have been a lot of bats with rabies in the
houses where we've removed bats," she said.
-
- Ms. Keller advised residents not to capture bats that
fly into their homes or to chase them out. Instead, back out of the room,
close the door and call animal control. Health officials will want to test
the bat and determine whether the resident needs rabies treatment.
-
- The vaccine no longer entails the dreaded 20 injections
in the stomach. The treatment now is administered with a singe injection,
similar to a tetanus shot, Ms. Keller said. "It's not something to
be afraid of anymore," she said.
-
- Residents also should not worry about being attacked
by rabid bats either in their homes or outdoors, said Marie Magnuson, bat-keeper
for the National Zoo.
-
- "People hear the word rabies and they think of the
ferocious form, like in the movie 'Old Yeller.' But bats get the dumb kind,"
she said. "They get sick and can't fly and just fall to the ground.
As long as you leave them alone, you're not going to get bit."
-
- Miss Magnuson said she's never been attacked by a bat,
despite working daily in a cave with 450 of them. However, she has been
bitten when handling the bats. She also has been inoculated against rabies.
-
- The most common bat species in the city is _Myotis lucifugus_
or "little brown bat," which weighs no more than 10 grams, about
the same as a quarter. Though they may look small and harmless, they can
carry the rabies virus and should never be handled, Miss Magnuson said.
-
- The number of human deaths attributed to rabies in the
United States over the past century has declined from 100 or more each
year to an average of 1 or 2 each year, according to the CDC.
-
- A Northern Virginia man died from rabies in 2003, the
state's 1st fatal case in nearly 5 years. The man, 25, was hospitalized
with flu-like symptoms in mid-February and died in mid-March. Rabies was
not initially suspected.
-
- http://washingtontimes.com/metro/20040902-102820-2299r.htm
-
-
- 5 McHenry Teens Treated In Rabid Bat Case
Chicago Tribune
8-25-4
-
- 5 McHenry County teenagers are undergoing medical treatments
after coming in contact with a rabid bat, 1 of 6 infected bats found in
the county this year, health officials said.
-
- Typically, the county records 1 or 2 rabid bats each
year. This year's increase could be "something that is cyclical,"
said Norma Spitzbart, the county's animal control officer. About 3 weeks
ago, the teens rescued a bat they discovered in Crystal Lake foundering
in water. It then flew into a tree, and Crystal Lake fire officials were
called to capture it.
-
- Statewide, 33 rabid bats have been reported so far in
2004, the highest number in the last decade, said Tom Schaefer, spokesman
for the Illinois Department of Public Health. During 2003, 24 bats tested
positive for rabies in the state.
-
- In addition to McHenry County's cases, Lake County has
had 2, Will County 4, DuPage County 1 and Cook County 3, officials said.
-
- Health officials are warning residents to stay away from
wild animals, especially bats. "People don't realize how catastrophic
contact with a bat can be," said Fran Stanwood, director of nursing
for the McHenry County Health Department.
-
- Anyone who finds a bat in their house or has had contact
with one should call the county Animal Control Department.
-
- http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearnorthwest/chi-040825
0368aug25,1,4788745.story?coll=chi-newslocalnearnorthwest-hed
-
-
- Rabies Found In Two Bats
Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming)
9-6-4
-
- 2 bats in Laramie and Albany counties, Wyoming, have
tested positive for rabies but have not caused any known human exposure,
health officials say.
-
- While the occurrence of rabies isn't unusual for this
time of year, the City- County Health Department and Cheyenne Animal Shelter
say people should to be aware of the problem and make sure vaccinations
for dogs, cats and ferrets are up-to-date, as is required by law.
-
- City-County Health director Gus Lopez said a cat that
happened upon the bat found in Laramie County is under quarantine at the
animal shelter.
-
- Rabies is an infectious disease that affects the nervous
system of humans and other mammals. People get rabies from the bite of
a rabid animal. It's also possible for people to contract the disease if
infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets into their
eyes, nose, mouth or a wound.
-
- http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2004/08/27/news
/wyoming/32b40723478e6af187256efc005bd48b.txt
-
-
- Rabies Vaccine Air Drop To Start
Oswego County is trying to prevent the deadly
disease from spreading.
By Delen Goldberg
Syracuse.com (Oswego County (NY)
8-27-4
-
- 4 rabid animals have been found so far in Oswego County
in 2004: a bat in Palermo, a skunk in Scriba and 2 skunks in Richland.
-
- Health officials, worried the virus will spread, are
dropping thousands of rabies vaccine packets from airplanes this week to
try to immunize raccoons and other wild animals in the county against the
disease.
-
- "Rather than try to deal with the after-effects
when the virus is here -- the people it affects, the animals it infects,
the pets that have to be quarantined -- it's a lot easier to take part
in this program and try to push rabies out of Oswego County," said
Evan Walsh, associate public health sanitarian for the county health department
and head of the rabies program.
-
- Airplanes will drop more than 32 000 packets of bait
containing the rabies vaccine throughout the northern part of Oswego County.
The aerial raid will take place today or Saturday and target 6 towns: Redfield,
Orwell, Boylston, Sandy Creek, Richland and Albion.
-
- County health officials also will distribute bait by
hand in the villages of Pulaski, Sandy Creek and Lacona, Walsh said. About
1100 vaccines will be placed near dumpsters, streams and wooded areas in
those villages beginning Monday.
-
- Hand baits are 2-inch cubes of fish meal with a packet
of rabies vaccine in the center. Aerial baits are soft, plastic packets,
about 2 inches long, which hold rabies vaccine coated with fish meal and
a wax binder. "It's like a ketchup packet you get in those fast-food
stores," Walsh said.
-
- Rabies first appeared in the state in 1990. The first
Oswego County case was discovered in February 1994 after an infected raccoon
scratched a dog in Schroeppel, Walsh said.
-
- Experts believe the virus spread from the South to the
North. Cases of rabies were documented in Florida and other Southern states
in the 1980s, Walsh said.
-
- Rabies is invariably fatal if left untreated but rarely
kills humans, because the public health system is designed to treat exposure
with effective vaccines. Rabies affects animals' brains and nervous systems,
causing them to act strangely. Walsh said "They bite off their own
feet, attack anything and everything that moves. Their central nervous
system is just shot."
-
- Health officials began sprinkling the county with rabies
vaccines 3 years ago, Walsh said. The program extends beyond the county
lines. "The long-term theory is to ... start to develop a boundary
along the northern part of the state and push raccoon rabies back down
South," Walsh said.
-
- Rabies packets will be dropped in 9 other counties in
the state, including Lewis, Franklin, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.
The program also extends through Ohio, Maine and several Canadian provinces,
Walsh said.
-
- The rabies vaccine is not harmful to people or pets,
Walsh said, but health officials are urging people to stay away from the
packets. If a pet eats a vaccine or brings one home, health officials ask
people to report it to the Oswego County Health Department.
-
- http://www.syracuse.com/news/poststandard/
- oswego/index.ssf?/base/news-5/109359844977350.xml
-
- -- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org
-
- This post illustrates the fact that bats are coming into
more frequent contact with people, and that education regarding bat behavior
is needed.
-
- The above reports are educational about the behavior
of a normal bat vs. a rabid bat. The articles are also helpful by reminding
people that the post- exposure prophylaxis against rabies is no longer
the 20-shot series, and is not given in the stomach. - Mod.TG
-
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, PhD Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at: http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
Go with God and in Good Health
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