CAYUGA – Rabies began to make headlines for the first time in almost a decade last week after an infected raccoon was found in Cayuga – the fifth in the area who was confirmed to have carried the disease. Cayuga sits just 30 km southeast of Six Nations.
Though the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry is responding by dropping thousands of packets of rabies vaccine bait in a 25 km radius around the area where the raccoons were found, it still helps to know a bit about the disease, how to recognize symptoms, and what to do should you recognize signs in your pet or if you are bitten by an infected animal.
What is rabies?
Rabies is an infectious disease that can spread from animals to humans. When an animal has rabies, the virus travels through the nerves inside the brain, where it reproduces and then travels back through the nerves to most parts of the body, including the salivary glands. When the rabies virus reaches the salivary glands, brain damage has likely occurred and the virus has infected the saliva, where it can enter a person’s body through a bite or broken skin.
What causes rabies?
Humans who contracted the rabies virus in the past did so after being bitten by a dog. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that more and more causes of human rabies have been linked to bats and raccoons. In Canada, the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety notes that, among domestic animals, dogs account for between 2 and 6 percent of rabies infections, while cats are responsible for between 1 and 2.5 percent of rabies cases.
What are the symptoms of rabies?
Rabies can appear in animals in various ways. When an animal has furious rabies, it will change behavior, grow restless, wander aimlessly and bite any animals, people or objects that get in its way before eventually becoming paralyzed in its throat and hind legs. Once that occurs, the animal will most likely die.
Some animals with rabies, however, will not become violent. These animals will change their behavior, which may become withdrawn or more affectionate. Animals may try to hide and will find it difficult to swallow. Their behavior will not become violent, and they are likely to die after a few days.
Cats infected with the rabies virus typically become extremely vicious, while dogs also become excitable and may become vicious and bite for no reason.
Though rare, human beings can be infected with the rabies virus as well. Drooling, convulsions, exaggerated sensation and/or pain at the bite site, loss of feeling in an area of the body, loss of muscle function and difficulty swallowing are a few of the symptoms humans may exhibit when infected with the rabies virus.
What should I do if I am bitten?
Should humans or their pets be bitten by an animal, they should try to gather as much information about the biter as possible and contact animal control so the animal can be safely captured to determine if it has rabies. If there is a risk of rabies, humans will be given a series of doses of a preventive vaccine and a treatment called human rabies immunoglobulin, or HRIG, which is administered the day the bite occurred. Vets will often quarantine a bitten pet that has received the rabies vaccine prior just to monitor behavior and be safe.
If you are bitten by an animal, report the incident right away and contact your physician immediately. It’s also good to do so if you haven’t been bitten but were exposed to a bat, fox or skunk, all of which can carry the rabies virus.
