McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

Animal rabies

 

Animal rabies is a reportable disease in Oklahoma. Rabies is a disease caused by the rabies virus. The rabies virus can affect the central nervous system of all warm-blooded mammals. Human rabies is very rare in the United States, but animal rabies, particularly in some wild animal species, is not uncommon. Rabies infections are almost always fatal once symptoms of the disease have begun.
Rabies virus is found only in the brain, spinal fluid, and saliva of infected animals. Transmission of the rabies virus can occur if any of these fluids or tissues from an infected animal enter the body through a bite, fresh opening of the skin that has not scabbed over, or mucous membrane (eyes, lining of the nose, or mouth).
The following are not exposures to rabies: being scratched by the animal, contact with blood, urine, feces, dried saliva, petting or touching the hair of a rabid animal, touching bowls, lead ropes, gates, trailers, or other surfaces the rabid animal had contact with.

Take these important steps after any animal bite:

• Wash all bite wounds immediately with soap and water, and continue washing for at least ten minutes.

• Contact your health care provider as soon as possible. Animal bite wounds contain bacteria, so a tetanus booster and/or antibiotics may be needed.

• If possible, safely catch or restrain the animal. Your local animal control or sheriff may be of assistance. Or, if the animal has an owner, get information about the animal's history of rabies vaccination and contact information about the owner.
• Call the local county health department sanitarian to report animal bites. The sanitarian will help confirm the animal's condition and rabies vaccine status.
Call the Acute Disease Service Epidemiologist-on-Call (at 405-271-4060) for evaluation of the rabies risk and whether the rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) should be started. Usually the PEP is delayed until the animal can be adequately evaluated, which may take 10 days or longer.
• If a rodent or rabbit caused the bite, these are very low risk and rabies post-exposure vaccination is usually not recommended.
• If the biting animal was a dog, cat, or ferret (not owned by the bite victim and not currently vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian), the animal should be quarantined with a licensed veterinarian for ten days.
• Dogs, cats, and ferrets (not owned by the bite victim and currently vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian) may be allowed to be quarantined by the animal owner.
• If the biting dog, cat or ferret dies or is euthanized during the ten day quarantine, it should be tested for rabies.
• If the dog, cat, or ferret remains healthy after 10 days, it was not infectious with rabies at the time the bite occurred.
• If another species of animal caused the bite, the local county health department sanitarian should be contacted. Animals other than dogs, cats, or ferrets may need to be quarantined for 30 days under the care of a veterinarian, or euthanized and tested for rabies.
 

Submission and testing of animals for rabies

 

The Public Health Laboratory at the Oklahoma State Health Department will test animals for rabies if people or other animals have been exposed. “Exposed” could mean the following:
• The animal bit a person or another animal.
• Another animal is known or suspected to have bitten the animal in question, or
• Saliva from the animal has come in contact with a person or another animal’s broken skin or mucus membranes (a naturally moist part of the body such as eyes or mouth). 
The PHL performs rabies tests every day except Sunday and certain holidays.  If a specimen is received by 11 a.m., the results will likely be available around 4 p.m. that same day, according to the health depatment. 
If you have questions about a potential exposure or the need for rabies testing, please contact the Acute Disease Service Epi-on-Call at 405-271-406 to determine availability for consultation.
If the animal’s head is available for testing, the decision to take rabies post-exposure shots should always be postponed until the rabies test results are available. It is definitely safe to wait the extra day or two for the test results before starting the rabies shots, if needed.
January 22, 2013

Rabies found in Pittsburg County horse

By James Beaty Senior Editor

McALESTER — McAlester veterinarian Dr. Paul Sells says a horse brought to his office has been confirmed to have rabies.

The owner brought the horse into Sells’ Oklahoma Vet Med office at 12 N. 14th St. when he observed it not eating, twitching and stumbling, Sells said. When the horse did not improve and tests for common equine illnesses tested negative, “The owner elected to euthanize him Wednesday,” Sells said.

Sells said he sent part of the horse to the Oklahoma Disease Diagnostic Hospital for testing.

“They transported it to the Oklahoma State Department of Health,” Sells said, where testing confirmed the illness. He said he got the results back late Friday afternoon.

“We got a positive test,” Sells said.

It’s the first positive rabies test for a horse in Pittsburg County in 2012 and in 2013, according to records maintained by the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The only confirmed case of rabies in Pittsburg County in 2012 were two cases involving skunks, according to health department records.

However, two neighboring counties, Latimer and McIntosh counties, had one case of confirmed rabies in horses each in 2012, records state.

The horse infected with rabies came from a few miles south of McAlester, Sells said. He is not certain how the Pittsburg County horse developed rabies, but he has a theory.

“Most likely it was bitten by a rabid skunk,” he said.

Sells said horses are curious animals, and he’s seen them “run” skunks around in a pasture. Some horses will put their noses to the ground to check out or try to push a skunk, which is, unfortunately, how they sometimes get bitten.

Sells said the horse he saw had no obvious bite wounds, but he said a wound could have healed between the time it had been bitten and the time the horse contracted the illness.

“It can be a two or three-month incubation period,” Sells said.

The horse had not attacked anyone, according to Sells. He said there are two forms of rabies, the “furious” form and the “dumb” form, where the animal is obviously ill, but not aggressive. This horse had the “dumb” kind, he said.

Sells mentioned that cattle can get rabies too. Since the illness is commonly transmitted through saliva, though, it’s more common for people to come into contact with the saliva of a horse.

Most people don’t come into contact with the mouths of cattle, Sells noted. It would be more common to come into contact with a horse’s mouth while doing things such as putting in a bit, or removing it, or checking the mouth for obstructions.

Sells wanted to remind horse owners that equine rabies vaccinations are available. Owners of other pets, such as dog and cats, should be aware that rabies have been confirmed in Pittsburg County, he said.

If the source of the illness was a skunk, it’s possible the animal is still out there, Sells said.

“The main thing is people don’t think about vaccinating for rabies on horses,” Sells said, noting the American Association of Equine Protection recommends that horses receive the vaccination

 It usually costs around $15 to have a horse vaccinated by a veterinarian in the McAlester area, Sells said, although prices may vary from office-to-office.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com

For more on this story, see the print or electronic editions of the McAlester News-Capital. Click here for print edition home delivery or click here to see the Smart Edition for your computer, tablet, e-reader or smartphone.

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