- Hello Jeff - The Colorado case has been termed a "public
health threat considered serious. The case in Texas was of a Rodeo
horse and people, from as far as Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico
and Oklahoma, and, of course Texas, may have had contact with the stall-bound
horse.
-
- Vaccinating horses against rabies is an insurance policy,
as the owner can be liable for any damages to humans and livestock as a
result of rabies.
-
- Vaccinating your pet, livestock might just insure that
YOU won't be exposed to the virus and have to undergo the vaccine post
exposure protocol.
-
- Stating that Rabies is a serious public health threat
is putting it mildly.
-
- Patty
-
- RABIES, EQUINE, HUMAN EXPOSURE - USA: (COLORADO, TEXAS)
ALERT
-
-
- [1] Colorado
- [2] Texas
-
- ******
- [1] Colorado
- Date: Tue 15 Sep 2009
- Source: The Gazette [edited]
- http://www.gazette.com/articles/rabies-62089-horse-health.html
-
-
- Rabies found in horse; public health threat considered
serious
-
- --------------------------------------------------------------
-
- The death of a rabid horse in Black Forest provides new
evidence that a disease once considered a negligible threat
in Colorado is now a serious public health problem, health
experts said Tuesday [15 Sep 2009].
-
- The horse was euthanized Friday [11 Sep 2009] and later
tested positive for rabies, the 1st case of a rabid horse in
Colorado in at least 25 years, according to the El Paso County
Department of Health and Environment, which announced the case
Tuesday [15 Sep 2009]. Health experts believe the horse contracted
rabies from a skunk, the first known "spillover"
casualty of a strain of skunk rabies that's shown up in Colorado
for the 1st time in decades.
-
- "I think it's a seminal event," said Dr Bernadette
Albanese, medical director at the El Paso County health department.
The fact that a horse contracted the virus means there are
a number of infected skunks out there, and they are moving
around, she said.
-
- Health officials are urging people to vaccinate pets
and livestock for the virus, which attacks the nervous system
and is usually transmitted by infected saliva.
-
- In recent months 6 rabid skunks have been discovered
in the county, making this the 1st year that skunk rabies has
been reported here since 1970. Although the cases were in northern
and eastern El Paso County, Albanese said that doesn't mean
rabies is limited to those areas.
-
- "At this point, with so much going on in a 2- to
3-month period, I think anywhere in the county's a risk, no
matter where you are," Albanese said.
-
- If rabies becomes more prevalent in animals that have
frequent contact with people, it could raise the risk of someone
being exposed to the disease and having to undergo an expensive
shot regimen [post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) - Mod.TG] to
stop it.
-
- It could also change the way health officials handle
animal-bite cases. People are frequently bitten by dogs, for
example, but seldom treated for rabies. That could change if
the disease begins to spread among pets. Once symptoms show,
the disease is fatal.
-
- Rabies is so rare in horses that vaccines have only recently
been recommended for them, said Dr Jim Friedly, a large-animal
veterinarian in Falcon. Even so, many horse owners in Colorado
have declined to order it, because rabies in horses here was
so unlikely.
-
- Friedly said the risk of rabies means horse owners should
be especially aware of unusual signs and take extra caution.
If a horse is drooling or foaming at the mouth, for example,
don't go fishing around for stuck grass or inspect its mouth
for problems. A foaming mouth could mean rabies.
- Rabies prevention
-
- -----------------
-
- a. Get pets, horses, and other high-value livestock vaccinated.
- b. Don't feed wild animals or allow your pets around
them. Make sure
- children stay away from wild animals.
- c. Contact the vet if a pet is bitten or scratched by
a wild animal.
- d. Call a doctor immediately if you suspect you've been
exposed to rabies.
- e. Stay away from an animal exhibiting bizarre behavior,
such as a
- nocturnal animal like a skunk wandering about during
the day.
- f. If you must remove a dead skunk on your property,
wear rubber
- gloves or lift the carcass with a shovel or other tool,
and double-bag
- it for the trash.
-
- Byline: Brian Newsome
-
- --
- Communicated by:
- ProMED-mail Rapporteur Susan Baekeland
-
- The state of Colorado, in the Rocky Mountain region of
the US, can be
- located on the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map
at
- http://healthmap.org/r/00Pv . - Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ
-
- ******
- [2] Texas
- Date: Mon 24 Aug 2009
- Source: The Horse.com [edited]
- http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=14782
-
-
- Texas horse dies of rabies, possible human exposure
-
- ---------------------------------------------------
-
- Public health officials in Texas are alerting anyone
who may have come in contact with a certain horse at the Scurry
County Rodeo, held in mid-July [2009] in Snyder, that they
might have been exposed to rabies. More than 250 contestants
from Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and
Texas participated in the rodeo.
-
- The horse was at the rodeo 16-18 Jul 2009. It became
ill on 28 Jul, died on 30 Jul, and tested positive for rabies
on 5 Aug 2009. The horse was not in any rodeo ceremonies or
events and was in a stall the entire time. Officials say it
is highly unlikely, but possible, that the horse was capable
of transmitting the rabies virus while at the rodeo arena.
-
- The 6-year-old sorrel quarter horse mare was 14 hands
high [a hand has been measured as 4 inches (about 10 cm), so
that a 14 hands horse would be approximately, 56 inches [about
1.42 m] tall at the withers or shoulders - Mod.TG] with white
rear stockings and a white star on her forehead. The horse
was in the 4th stall from the south end of a row of stalls
on the west side of the arena grounds in a parking area reserved
for contestants. The adjoining stalls were empty. The arena
is on Gary Brewer Road in Snyder.
-
- Health officials say transmission could have occurred
if the horse bit anyone or if saliva from the horse got in
an open wound or cut or in the eyes or nose of a person.
-
- See a diagram of the rodeo arena at
- http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/news/releases/ScurryCountyRodeo.pdf
-
-
- If you might have been in contact with this horse, contact
a doctor or
- call the Texas Department of State Health Services at
512/458-7255 to
- determine if you need to receive treatment to prevent
rabies.
-
- --
- Communicated by:
- ProMED-mail
- promed@promedmail.org
-
- Snyder, in the south central state of Texas, can be located
via the HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of the US at http://healthmap.org/r/00Pw.
- Sr.Tech.Ed.MJ
-
- (Vaccines for horses have been around for many years,
however not all horse owners believe the vaccine to be a cheap
insurance policy for themselves, their family, and their horses.
-
- Horses may show a slight behavior change that may at
first go unnoticed. For example the horse may seem frisky,
perhaps associated with the cooler weather of autumn, or take
a playful nip, and in a few days the playfulness may be outward
aggression, without necessarily signs of drooling. There may
be stumbling or ataxia, and may be confused with diseases such
as eastern equine encephalitis or West Nile virus. Other animals
may have little to no neurological signs, but only appear to
be choking.
-
- All pet and livestock owners are encouraged to protect
themselves, and their families by vaccinating the companion
animals (dogs, cats, and horses) and livestock such as cattle,
goats, and sheep, especially if these are show animals around
which there are people on a daily or near daily basis. That
small investment in a vaccine may be what saves your life.
- Mod.TG)
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