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Another rabid animal in the White River Valley was confirmed this week. This one was a skunk which had contact with dogs outside a Route 12A residence in Braintree Monday. According to Dr. Robert Johnson, the state’s public health veterinarian, the dogs had been previously vaccinated and have since received rabies boosters. Monday’s incident marks the 38th confirmed rabies case in Vermont, compared with a total of 73 for all of 2006. Most of this year’s rabies cases have been in northeastern counties, with Franklin County with 16 incidents, and Chittenden with seven. Orange County has had four confirmed cases and Windsor County just one—but most were complex cases, with three involving livestock bitten by rabid animals. On Jan. 3, a skunk that had bitten several dairy cows in a barn in Corinth tested positive; and on Jan. 26, a Chelsea beef cow, which had likely been bitten by a rabid skunk in December, sickened and was put down, and later tested positive for rabies. On Feb. 21, a bobcat entered a Stockbridge barn and attacked two goats. It later tested positive for rabies. The other Orange County incidents include a rabid fox in Williamstown March 21 and this week’s skunk in Braintree. Rabies is also being found in other New England states, and the Associated Press reported this week that a New Hampshire man, who may have been bitten by a rabid bat, is in critical condition at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. The man, who became ill about a month ago, had been doing roofing work about three months ago when he thought he had been stung by a bee. He didn’t seek medical help at the time and it is now suspected that he was bitten by a bat. Rabies is caused by a virus transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal. If untreated, the disease is almost always fatal, but if treatment is undertaken quickly, it can almost always be cured. Rabies had formerly been called "always fatal" (once the disease developed) but in 2004, a 15-year-old girl in Wisconsin became the first known person to survive after developing the disease. Doctors at DHMC are now consulting with Wisconsin doctors, who successfully treated the girl by putting her into a drug-induced coma and administering an experimental mixture of drugs. Dr. Johnson this week encouraged Vermonters to: • Stay away from wildlife; • Vaccinate pets and livestock; and • "Know who in your community will help you with an animal problem." Johnson also emphasized the importance of never picking up orphaned wildlife, no matter how cute or healthy they may appear. For more information, contact the rabies hotline, 1-800-4-RABIES. ____________ |
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