[Rabies in Ohio: What You Should Know] Zoonotic Disease Program: Rabies

[Rabies in Ohio: What You Should Know] Zoonotic Disease Program: Rabies

"Local health departments reported they were aware of 56 people who were bitten or otherwise potentially exposed to rabid bats in Ohio during 2008. All 56 patients started rabies post-exposure treatment (PET). Eleven rabid bats also exposed 10 cats, nine dogs and a horse. Each animal was given a vaccine booster and/or quarantined. Bat rabies is sporadic throughout the state and pets frequently are the conduit to human exposures. The public must be continually reminded that even these small animals can be deadly."

(Note: Rabies is another reason pets should be supervised at all times and not be permitted to run loose. ORV -- Oral Rabies Vaccine) bait was put out in sixteen eastern Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Belmont, Carroll, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Harrison, Jefferson, Lake, Mahoning, Monroe, Noble, Portage, Summit, Trumbull, and Washington. TVR -- Trap-Vaccinate-Release -- is also employed.)

Last updated: February 23, 2009

People are exposed to rabies when they are bitten by an infected animal, or less commonly, when saliva from an infected animal gets into an open wound or onto a mucous membrane.

Any bite wound should be thoroughly washed with soap and water as soon as possible.

Animal bite victims should consult with their doctor and promptly report the incident to the local health department.

Rabies is almost always fatal once clinical symptoms appear. To confirm the victim’s risk of being exposed to rabies, a decision must be made to either test or quarantine the biting animal, or to treat the victim. Treatment must be initiated soon after the exposure to be effective. Ohio’s local health departments investigate more than 24,000 animal bite incidents annually. Because of health department activities and medical treatment, human rabies is rare in the United States. Ohio’s last human rabies case was in 1970.

The Ohio Department of Health Rabies Program conducts rabies prevention activities to protect Ohio residents from the spread of wildlife rabies to people, pets, and other animals. Bat, raccoon, skunk, other wild animal and domestic animal rabies cases are reviewed to determine any necessary control initiatives.

The Rabies Program works to do the following:

Assist local health departments with rabies prevention programs and coordinate rabies control activities among local, state and federal agencies.

Develop educational materials for the public.

Provide consultation for public health workers, veterinarians, the medical community, and others who work with animals, and deal with animal bites and rabies exposures.

Collect and maintain data on rabies and animal bites in Ohio.

2008 Ohio Rabies Map

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/ASSETS/6DF229DD9EFB4436866D31FFDFD5EAEB/rabmap.pdf

2008 Rabies Summary (excerpted below)

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/ASSETS/3FD4AEC0392745B382CE5943DFB0818B/rabsum.pdf (4 pages)

In 2008, 4,405 animals from Ohio were tested for rabies. Testing was conducted by three laboratories:

The Ohio Department of Health Laboratories (ODHL) tested public health specimens (e.g. suspect animals that exposed humans or pets/domestic animals).

The United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Service (USDA APHIS WS) targeted sick and dead wildlife collected for raccoon- rabies variant (RRV) surveillance in northeast Ohio.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laboratories conducted variant typing on rabies-positive animal samples and confirmed USDA APHIS WS samples.

Sixty-four animals tested positive for rabies in 2008. Fifty-five of those animals were bats (85.9 percent), five were raccoons (7.8 percent), three were skunks (4.7 percent) and one was a coyote (1.6 percent). For comparison, 86 animals (66 bats, 11 raccoons and nine skunks) from Ohio tested positive for rabies in 2007. In Ohio, there are three rabies variants (or strains) circulating among wildlife and they include bat, skunk and raccoon rabies. The North Central skunk-rabies variant and the raccoon-rabies variant are terrestrial variants, and each tends to have a geographic focus. The third variant is bat rabies, which is sporadic and geographically disbursed. Each strain prefers a specific animal species, but any strain can infect humans and other mammals. For example, a skunk with RRV can cause rabies in a dog, cat, horse, etc.

No matter the variant, rabies is a viral disease of mammals that affects the nervous system. It is nearly 100 percent fatal and is transmitted when saliva from an infected animal gets into an open wound or on a mucous membrane. In humans, treatment is effective only if immunoglobulin and a series of five vaccine injections are administered within days after the exposure. This is the reason Ohio law requires all animal bites be reported to the local health department within 24 hours. Human disease can be prevented through prompt exposure evaluation and treatment. Because of the medical and public health infrastructure in the state, Ohio has not had a confirmed human case of rabies since 1970. Each year in the United States, an average of three people die from rabies, usually from bat-related variants. Worldwide, roughly 55,000 people die each year, most often from canine-rabies variant, which is not endemic to the United States.

Bat Rabies:

In 2008, the number of bats testing positive (55) was higher than the five-year average (47, range 30-66). The percent positive was 6 percent. Local health departments reported they were aware of 56 people who were bitten or otherwise potentially exposed to rabid bats in Ohio during 2008.

All 56 patients started rabies post-exposure treatment (PET). Eleven rabid bats also exposed 10 cats, nine dogs and a horse. Each animal was given a vaccine booster and/or quarantined. Bat rabies is sporadic throughout the state and pets frequently are the conduit to human exposures. The public must be continually reminded that even these small animals can be deadly.

Bats frequently inhabit attics and pose a rabies risk to residents if there is access into living areas. In July, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Zoonotic Disease Program received a call about a bat found in a rental home. The bat tested positive for rabies through ODHL and the family received PET. The tenants moved shortly after completing the PET series. New tenants moved in and subsequently reported seeing bats in sleeping areas in the morning. Because no bats were available for testing, these tenants also started and completed PET. The landlord paid all the out-of-pocket expenses for each family which amounted to several thousand dollars. “Bat-proofing” the structure would probably have been less expensive than paying for PET.

Raccoon Rabies Variant:

All rabid raccoons and skunks, plus one coyote, identified in Ohio during 2008 were positive for RRV. All were found in northeast Ohio. The percentage of raccoons testing positive in 2008 (five of 1,009 or 0.5 percent) was similar to previous years. This year, most RRV-positive animals (five raccoons and two skunks) were detected by enhanced surveillance activities (odd behavior, sick, roadkill); not because they bit or otherwise exposed a person or pet. However, one skunk and one coyote were involved in human or pet/domestic animal exposures.

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/ASSETS/3FD4AEC0392745B382CE5943DFB0818B/rabsum.pdf (4 pages)

Source (original website address / URL):

http://www.odh.ohio.gov/odhPrograms/dis/zoonoses/rabies/rab1.aspx