First
a little background, why do we even care about rabies?
Rabies is a deadly, but preventable disease. Once symptoms appear, the disease is nearly always fatal.
OK, you’ve got my attention now...
Let’s throw out a few scenarios to give you
an idea of what we do in the rabies program.
Scenario 1- You lose your frisbee in your neighbor’s yard so you jump the
fence to get it and their dog gets startled and bites you. You go to an urgent
care to get the wound looked at and they ask you about the dog and the dog
owners so they can fill out a bite report to submit to us.
Now
you may be saying to yourself “No, I
don’t want to get my neighbor’s dog taken away from them, I’m not going to
report it.”
We do not harm or take animals away from people.
Here is what we do when we receive a bite
report:
·
Use the information
you give us to contact the animal owner and make sure the animal is alive and
able to be monitored for 10 days.
·
Verify the rabies
vaccination status of the animal.
·
Track the animal’s health. If it is alive and well 10 days after the day
it bit you, it did not have rabies at the time of the bite and there is no risk
of rabies to you.
Scenario 2- You wake up to a bat flying around your bedroom. Bats have very tiny mouths and you were sleeping so you are not completely sure you didn’t get bit. You caught the bat and have it in a container. You call us to report it and see what you should do next.
- Fill out a bite report.
- Retrieve the bat from you and send it away to be tested to see if it had rabies.
The
results come in and the bat does not have rabies. This is good news, even if
you got bit and didn’t realize it there is no risk of rabies to you.
Wait, but what if I couldn’t catch the bat and
it got away?
In
this case, if you truly don’t know if you were bitten we are going to recommend
you receive postexposure
prophylaxis (PEP).
There
is a risk for rabies to you and we don’t want to take any chances. Did you know
rabies symptoms can show up in people in a few days or not for months?
Postexposure
prophylaxis (PEP) - that sounds scary.
It’s
not as bad as it sounds!
PEP is
a series of shots spread out in 4 visits over 2 weeks. I had to get these shots
and I assure you they are no different than your typical flu shot.
Please note these are just some examples,
the possible scenarios are endless.
Ok this is a lot of information at once, let’s wrap it up!
What should you do if you are bitten by a pet or wildlife?
1. Get the animal owner’s (if there is one) name,
address and phone number – this is important!
2. Note where and when the bite happened and the
animal’s color, condition, size and temperament.
3. Thoroughly wash the wound with soap and water
and seek medical attention immediately – animal bites can be infected with many
diseases besides rabies.
4. Report the incident to the Clinton County Health Department (CCHD) by calling 518-565-4870. (Keep in mind we do not take peoples animals from them!)
How can you prevent rabies?
·
Do not attempt to catch or pet strays or
wildlife, call animal control if you find a stray animal.
·
Keep rabies
vaccinations up-to-date for all cats, ferrets, and dogs.
·
Always ask before
approaching someone else’s animal and teach your kids when it is and is not okay to pet an animal.
All
animal bites, no matter how minor must be reported to CCHD.
One
last thing to mention before you go, another part of the rabies program is that
CCHD offers FREE rabies clinics to Clinton County residents. Due to the restrictions in place
for COVID-19 we don’t have the date of our first 2020 clinic yet but keep an
eye on our Facebook page for an update.
For
more information about rabies in Clinton County click here.
Karissa LaBonte
Public Health
Sanitarian
Division of
Environmental Health and Safety
