From Maryland has 431 cases this year!
Nov 24, 2008
DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
Phoenix. -- As of Nov. 7, with nearly two months left in the year, the the Arizona Department of Health Services already reports a record-breaking year for rabies cases.
Since January, the state's laboratory confirmed 162 cases in animals, 38 cases in humans and 119 cases of pet exposure to rabid animals.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tallied 159 cases of rabies in Arizona, with all occurring in wild animals -- primarily bats. That was nearly a 14 percent increase from the 140 cases in 2006, but the ADHS says 2006 figures were down from the 169 cases confirmed in 2005.
Texas led the nation last year in rabies cases with 969, followed by Virginia with 730 and New York with 512. Maryland reported 431 cases last year, according to the CDC.
The increase in Arizona is being attributed to three factors, says Laura Oxley, ADHS spokeswoman. First, surveillance is better, and authorities believe there aren't more cases per se, but more are being reported. Second, rabies is a cyclical disease and often goes through high and low levels, Oxley says. Lastly, Arizona still is a developing state and, as population increases and residential communities spread out, people and pets are closer to wild-animal habitats.
To help combat the spread of rabies, the ADHS issued a warning and tips to reduce exposure, including keeping pets vaccinated, keeping away from animals that appear to be sick and keeping pets fenced or contained to reduce their contact with wild animals.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Apparently Sept 28 is Rabies Awareness Day (missed it!)
World Rabies Day raises awareness about education, vaccination
Sep 26, 2008
By: Rachael Whitcomb
DVM NEWSMAGAZINE
International Report -- Every year, more than 30,000 people in the United States are exposed to rabies. Worldwide, about 55,000 people die from the virus, equaling about one totally preventable human death every 10 minutes.
Many cases originate from contact with animals carrying the deadly virus, so veterinarians and other animal care workers are especially at risk.
Staying up-to-date on vaccinations and educating the public about the risks associated with rabies and how infection can be prevented are key elements to keeping the spread of rabies at bay. The initiation of World Rabies Day last year was a combined effort by numerous animal and human health organizations to spread the word about rabies, and that effort is continuing this year with the second annual World Rabies Day observation on Sunday (Sept. 28).
World Rabies Day, a global rabies awareness campaign, is spearheaded by the United Kingdom charity Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, at least 74 countries participated in World Rabies Day events, which included vaccination clinics, lectures and education programs, parades, festivals, and dog walks. World Rabies Day organizers had hoped to have about 55,000 involved in the first year's events on Sept. 8 last year, but the group says its data indicates that more than 393,000 took part in World Rabies Day programs. Media efforts help spread the word about rabies prevention to millions of people worldwide, and more than 600,000 vaccines were administered.
"Vaccination prior to possible exposure is a crucial part of health management of domestic animals, and is the single most important factor in rabies prevention," says Peter Costa, global communications coordinator for ARC.
But where to start?
Rabies is considered one of the world's oldest viral problems, with the first written record of the infection in dogs dating back to 1930 B.C. It was virtually eradicated in the United Kingdom through strict wandering animal and vaccination regulations in the 20th century, but raccoons have increased the spread of the disease in the United States, and recent pet booms have increased the incidence of infection in East Asia. Beijing in China has instituted a one-dog per person policy to help control the spread of the disease, while India reports the highest incidence of human rabies anywhere in the world.
So, while the human rabies vaccine first was developed by Louis Pasteur -- who died on Sept. 28, 1895 -- and Emile Roux more than 120 years ago, the world is still grappling with the spread of the virus. Why does this continue, and why have world leaders decided only now to embark on large-scale education efforts about rabies?
A lot has been discovered in the last century about the disease, and Dr. Charles Rupprecht of the CDC says it has come to a point where researchers know just about all they will ever learn about the disease. So the focus, he says, needs to become combating the disease rather than trying to understand it.
"It was the synthesis of the scientific process that led all of us to the eureka moment that it's not going to be someone else who says this is the moment. It has to be self discovery and self enlightment to create a movement," Rupprecht says. "You reach a certain point where previously in your career, you've always been mentored. Then you wake up and realize you are the generation that needs to make it happen."
The creation of a worldwide event to spread information about rabies is something Rupprecht says he and members of the World Health Organization have discussed for years. But now that the human-animal bond is increasing, and domestic animals are in greater contact with wildlife as they move into suburban areas, there is even more concern. People need to be reminded constantly to vaccinate their pets and the simple message of "if you can touch it, don't" for people who find it hard to resist the urge to welcome wild animals with open arms.
The three overlapping messages Rupprecht and the other World Rabies Day originators came up with are simple: human rabies can be prevented; canine rabies can be eliminated, not just controlled; and there needs to be a greater focus on offering oral vaccinations to free-range animal populations.
Efforts meet obstacles
Despite the best intentions, there still are obstacles to preventing rabies.
Cost is one major factor. Many developing countries that live in close contact with both domestic and animal populations can't afford regular veterinary care like vaccinations. The annual estimated cost of rabies prevention in the U.S. alone is more than $300 million, and that cost is primarily for the vaccination of dogs, according to the CDC.
Global warming may also pose problems for controlling the spread of the virus, as wildlife is forced into more limited areas, resulting in more contact between different species, Rupprecht says. Animal populations are shifting areas along with climate change, too, and bringing new diseases like rabies into new areas that might be naïve to their effects.
Perhaps one of the largest obstacles, however, is a shortage of human vaccine supplies. On Sept. 4, Novartis announced it would no longer ship supplies of its human rabies vaccine, so that doses could be retained for emergency use by state and local public health authorities.
The human vaccine supply problem began in June 2007, when Sanofi Pasteur renovated its vaccine production facility in France to comply with new French and U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations. The renovations will be complete sometime in 2009, but only a limited amount of the vaccine is available until then. In the meantime, vaccines made by other companies, like Novartis, are being stretched thin.
While supplies of rabies pre- and post-exposure vaccines are "much less than ideal," Rupprecht says he has been meeting with a vaccine committee in Washington, D.C. to address the shortage and discuss the creation of a national stockpile of rabies vaccines.
"The inability to supply vaccine to all exposed individuals should not occur," Rupprecht says.
Where there doesn't seem to be any fear of a shortage is in oral vaccines for wildlife populations. Merial alone has produced more than 100 million doses of its oral vaccine that was approved for the immunization of raccoons and coyotes. It also has produced more than 400 million doses of another vaccine approved for use in six different species and more than 12 million feline rabies vaccines.
To continue its progress, Merial also launched a contest last year with the Student American Veterinary Medical Association among 26 veterinary colleges to host rabies awareness events and education programs. The winning school, Tuskegee University, will get to host an on-site rabies symposium sponsored by Merial Oct. 18.
Spreading the word
World Rabies Day allows organizations from all over the world to come together to offer education and free vaccination clinics. It will be celebrated Sept. 28 this year with a major symposium at the CDC. But World Rabies Day will not be a one-stop event. Events are planned throughout the year all over the world as authorities aim to re-educate each continent about the disease and what impact it could have if not addressed.
In the United States alone, more than 30 events were scheduled in observation of World Rabies Day.
In Africa, a national event took place in Angola in July involving a door-to-door vaccination plan. Other events scheduled in Africa include mass vaccinations and festivals in the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and the United Republic of Tanzania.
In the Americas, Brazil hosted a number of events, as well as Canada. Grenada, Colombia, Mexico and Puerto Rico followed suit.
In Asia, China, several regions of India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand all scheduled events for World Rabies Day. Other participants world-wide include the Netherlands, the Syrian Arab Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
From 2004 -- that awful transplant story
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Rabies spread by organs taken from an infected donor has killed three transplant recipients, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
"This has never happened before," said Dr. Mitch Cohen, an infectious disease expert at the CDC, in a conference call with reporters.
A fourth recipient died during the actual transplant operation, before there was time to develop the disease, officials said.
Rabies was also determined to be responsible for the death of the organ donor.
The unprecedented case began nearly two months ago, shortly after an Arkansas man suffered a brain hemorrhage and died at Christus Saint Michael Healthcare Center in Texarkana, Texas.
The man's lungs, kidneys and liver were transplanted May 4.
The impact of the virus began to emerge within weeks.
The liver recipient died June 7; one kidney recipient died June 8 and the other kidney recipient died June 21. The patient who died was undergoing lung transplant surgery.
Though the risk of person-to-person transmission of rabies is low, the disease is nearly always fatal.
Health officials urged anyone who may have had contact with the infected patients to be tested for rabies, and patients at five hospitals were being sought.
In addition to the Texarkana hospital, the other facilities are Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas; the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital; Wadley Regional Medical Center, Texarkana, Texas; and Good Shepherd Medical Center Longview, Texas.
Cohen said rabies typically occurs in just one to three people in the United States in any given year, and is most often transmitted by the bite of an infected mammal.
Based on laboratory tests, health experts said they believe a bat infected the organ donor.
Rabies tests are not routine donor screening tests, Virginia McBride, public health organ donation specialist with the Health Resources and Services Administration, said.
The number of tests is limited because doctors have only about six hours from the time a patient is declared brain-dead until the transplantation must begin for the organs to maintain viability.
Potential donors are tested for other infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C and syphilis, she said.
Person-to-person rabies transmission has been reported in only two cases, both of which occurred in Ethiopia via contact with saliva, Cohen said. One infection resulted from a bite, the other a kiss, he added.
That Venezuela Vampire Bat story
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/08/world/printable4334964.shtml
Vampire Bats Eyed For Venezuela Deaths
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 8, 2008
(AP) At least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela, and medical experts suspect an outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats.
Laboratory investigations have yet to confirm the cause, but the symptoms point to rabies, according to two researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and other medical experts.
The two UC Berkeley researchers - the husband-and-wife team of anthropologist Charles Briggs and public health specialist Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs - said the symptoms include fever, body pains, tingling in the feet followed by progressive paralysis, and an extreme fear of water. Victims tend to have convulsions and grow rigid before death.
Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agreed with their preliminary diagnosis.
"The history and clinical signs are compatible with rabies," Rupprecht told The Associated Press on Friday. "Prevention is straightforward: Prevent bites and vaccinate those at risk of bites."
Venezuelan health officials are investigating the outbreak and plan to distribute mosquito nets to prevent bat bites and send a medical boat to provide treatment in remote villages on the Orinoco River delta, Indigenous Peoples Minister Nicia Maldonado told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency on Thursday.
Outbreaks of rabies spread by vampire bats are a problem in various tropical areas of South America, including Brazil and Peru, Rupprecht said.
He said researchers suspect that in some cases environmental degradation - including mining, logging or dam construction projects - may also be contributing to rabies outbreaks.
"Vampire bats are very adaptable," Rupprecht said. And when their roosts are disrupted or their normal prey grow scarce, "Homo sapiens is a pretty easy meal."
More study is needed to confirm through blood or other samples from victims that it is the rabies virus in Venezuela, researchers say.
At least 38 Warao Indians have died since June 2007, and at least 16 have died since the start of June 2008, according to a report the Berkeley researchers and indigenous leaders provided to Venezuelan officials this week.
All victims died within two to seven days from the onset of symptoms, Briggs said.
One village, Mukuboina, lost eight of its roughly 80 inhabitants
all of them children, he said.
During a study trip Briggs and Mantini-Briggs made through 30 villages in the river delta, relatives said the victims had been bitten by bats. The couple have worked among the Warao in Delta Amacuro state for years and were invited by indigenous leaders to study the outbreak.
"It's a monster illness," said Tirso Gomez, a Warao traditional healer who said the indigenous group of more than 35,000 people has never experienced anything similar.
Another tropical medicine expert, Dr. Daniel Bausch of Tulane University in New Orleans, agreed the symptoms and accounts suggest rabies transmitted by bats, and if confirmed, "probably a vaccination campaign would be in order."
The common vampire bat, which feeds on mammals' blood, swoops down and generally approaches its sleeping prey on the ground. The bat then makes a small incision with its teeth, and an anticoagulant in its saliva keeps the blood flowing while it laps up its meal with its tongue.
The researchers in Venezuela have begun taking precautions. Mantini-Briggs, a Venezuelan former health official, said she started to wonder about her own health Friday while talking with biologist Omar Linares, a bat expert at Caracas' Simon Bolivar University.
She remembered there was blood on her sheet after sleeping in a hammock in a village two weeks ago. Initially she dismissed it as nothing important, but she also remembered her finger hurt that morning and that she saw two small red dots there.
Linares suggested she get rabies shots immediately.
"They're vaccinating me," Mantini-Briggs said. "I'm sure a bat bit me."
Vampire Bats Eyed For Venezuela Deaths
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug. 8, 2008
(AP) At least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela, and medical experts suspect an outbreak of rabies spread by bites from vampire bats.
Laboratory investigations have yet to confirm the cause, but the symptoms point to rabies, according to two researchers from the University of California at Berkeley and other medical experts.
The two UC Berkeley researchers - the husband-and-wife team of anthropologist Charles Briggs and public health specialist Dr. Clara Mantini-Briggs - said the symptoms include fever, body pains, tingling in the feet followed by progressive paralysis, and an extreme fear of water. Victims tend to have convulsions and grow rigid before death.
Dr. Charles Rupprecht, chief of the rabies program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, agreed with their preliminary diagnosis.
"The history and clinical signs are compatible with rabies," Rupprecht told The Associated Press on Friday. "Prevention is straightforward: Prevent bites and vaccinate those at risk of bites."
Venezuelan health officials are investigating the outbreak and plan to distribute mosquito nets to prevent bat bites and send a medical boat to provide treatment in remote villages on the Orinoco River delta, Indigenous Peoples Minister Nicia Maldonado told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency on Thursday.
Outbreaks of rabies spread by vampire bats are a problem in various tropical areas of South America, including Brazil and Peru, Rupprecht said.
He said researchers suspect that in some cases environmental degradation - including mining, logging or dam construction projects - may also be contributing to rabies outbreaks.
"Vampire bats are very adaptable," Rupprecht said. And when their roosts are disrupted or their normal prey grow scarce, "Homo sapiens is a pretty easy meal."
More study is needed to confirm through blood or other samples from victims that it is the rabies virus in Venezuela, researchers say.
At least 38 Warao Indians have died since June 2007, and at least 16 have died since the start of June 2008, according to a report the Berkeley researchers and indigenous leaders provided to Venezuelan officials this week.
All victims died within two to seven days from the onset of symptoms, Briggs said.
One village, Mukuboina, lost eight of its roughly 80 inhabitants
all of them children, he said.
During a study trip Briggs and Mantini-Briggs made through 30 villages in the river delta, relatives said the victims had been bitten by bats. The couple have worked among the Warao in Delta Amacuro state for years and were invited by indigenous leaders to study the outbreak.
"It's a monster illness," said Tirso Gomez, a Warao traditional healer who said the indigenous group of more than 35,000 people has never experienced anything similar.
Another tropical medicine expert, Dr. Daniel Bausch of Tulane University in New Orleans, agreed the symptoms and accounts suggest rabies transmitted by bats, and if confirmed, "probably a vaccination campaign would be in order."
The common vampire bat, which feeds on mammals' blood, swoops down and generally approaches its sleeping prey on the ground. The bat then makes a small incision with its teeth, and an anticoagulant in its saliva keeps the blood flowing while it laps up its meal with its tongue.
The researchers in Venezuela have begun taking precautions. Mantini-Briggs, a Venezuelan former health official, said she started to wonder about her own health Friday while talking with biologist Omar Linares, a bat expert at Caracas' Simon Bolivar University.
She remembered there was blood on her sheet after sleeping in a hammock in a village two weeks ago. Initially she dismissed it as nothing important, but she also remembered her finger hurt that morning and that she saw two small red dots there.
Linares suggested she get rabies shots immediately.
"They're vaccinating me," Mantini-Briggs said. "I'm sure a bat bit me."
That Rabid Fox story
Chino Valley woman battles rabid fox
By T.M. Shultz, Courtesy of the Daily Courier
Thursday, November 06, 2008
A Chino Valley woman must undergo a series of rabies shots after battling a sick fox that bit her twice.
Thirty-year-old Michelle Felicepta said she was jogging late Monday afternoon on her favorite trail at the base of Granite Mountain when she saw the fox coming down onto the trail ahead of her. She stopped as the 10- to 15-pound animal turned and faced her. "I knew something was wrong when its eyes locked in on me," Felicepta said Wednesday during a telephone interview. As she started backing away, the fox lunged at her and bit her foot. Then it went for her knee. As it did, the woman instinctively grabbed it by the neck, trying to pull it away. "As soon as I grabbed its neck, it started thrashing and grabbed my left arm," Felicepta continued. The fox bit down hard, drawing blood. "The teeth were in real deep," Felicepta recalled.
She started looking around for a stick to pry its mouth open, but couldn't find one.
"I was choking him with my right hand and each time I (loosened) up my grip a little, he got a little bit of air and he'd start thrashing around and kind of screaming." Finally, believing the fox was rabid and knowing authorities would need to test it to make sure, she decided to run back to her car - parked about a mile and a half away - with the fox's mouth still clamped on her arm, her right hand gripped tightly around its throat. "Thank god for adrenaline," Felicepta said.
After reaching her car and popping open the trunk, she managed to pry the fox's mouth open. "I'd been choking that thing the whole time," Felicepta said, laughing at her own ferocity. She yanked off her sweatshirt, wrapped it around the fox and flung the animal into her trunk "as hard as I could," she added. Next, she hopped into her car and drove herself to Yavapai Regional Medical Center. On the way there, she finally got scared. "That's when it kind of sunk in," Felicepta said.
At the hospital, the fox also bit a Yavapai County Animal Control Officer as the officer was getting the animal out of the trunk, said Dwight D'Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. On Tuesday, the Arizona State Health Laboratory in Phoenix tested the fox and confirmed it had rabies. Felicepta will get five rabies shots over the next few weeks. The animal control officer will get only two or three because he had already received a pre-exposure rabies vaccination, D'Evelyn said.
Arizona's public health veterinarian, Elisabeth Lawaczeck, said Felicepta did the best she could under difficult circumstances. "It's kind of just bad luck when you're on a trail and get attacked," Lawaczeck said. Last year Yavapai County had six confirmed cases of rabies in wild animals. So far this year it has recorded 10. That's not unusual, Lawaczeck said. "Rabies is a cyclical disease because it wipes out the population that has it," she explained.
By T.M. Shultz, Courtesy of the Daily Courier
Thursday, November 06, 2008
A Chino Valley woman must undergo a series of rabies shots after battling a sick fox that bit her twice.
Thirty-year-old Michelle Felicepta said she was jogging late Monday afternoon on her favorite trail at the base of Granite Mountain when she saw the fox coming down onto the trail ahead of her. She stopped as the 10- to 15-pound animal turned and faced her. "I knew something was wrong when its eyes locked in on me," Felicepta said Wednesday during a telephone interview. As she started backing away, the fox lunged at her and bit her foot. Then it went for her knee. As it did, the woman instinctively grabbed it by the neck, trying to pull it away. "As soon as I grabbed its neck, it started thrashing and grabbed my left arm," Felicepta continued. The fox bit down hard, drawing blood. "The teeth were in real deep," Felicepta recalled.
She started looking around for a stick to pry its mouth open, but couldn't find one.
"I was choking him with my right hand and each time I (loosened) up my grip a little, he got a little bit of air and he'd start thrashing around and kind of screaming." Finally, believing the fox was rabid and knowing authorities would need to test it to make sure, she decided to run back to her car - parked about a mile and a half away - with the fox's mouth still clamped on her arm, her right hand gripped tightly around its throat. "Thank god for adrenaline," Felicepta said.
After reaching her car and popping open the trunk, she managed to pry the fox's mouth open. "I'd been choking that thing the whole time," Felicepta said, laughing at her own ferocity. She yanked off her sweatshirt, wrapped it around the fox and flung the animal into her trunk "as hard as I could," she added. Next, she hopped into her car and drove herself to Yavapai Regional Medical Center. On the way there, she finally got scared. "That's when it kind of sunk in," Felicepta said.
At the hospital, the fox also bit a Yavapai County Animal Control Officer as the officer was getting the animal out of the trunk, said Dwight D'Evelyn, spokesman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. On Tuesday, the Arizona State Health Laboratory in Phoenix tested the fox and confirmed it had rabies. Felicepta will get five rabies shots over the next few weeks. The animal control officer will get only two or three because he had already received a pre-exposure rabies vaccination, D'Evelyn said.
Arizona's public health veterinarian, Elisabeth Lawaczeck, said Felicepta did the best she could under difficult circumstances. "It's kind of just bad luck when you're on a trail and get attacked," Lawaczeck said. Last year Yavapai County had six confirmed cases of rabies in wild animals. So far this year it has recorded 10. That's not unusual, Lawaczeck said. "Rabies is a cyclical disease because it wipes out the population that has it," she explained.
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