State opens rabies fight in I-4 corridor

Officials target raccoons with a vaccine-laced bait in hopes of reducing the number of outbreaks.

By CANDACE RONDEAUX, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 10, 2003

A fishy-smelling bait could be the key to reducing rabies cases throughout Florida, state officials say.

Using a Pinellas County program as a model, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services hopes to prevent rabies outbreaks by distributing vaccine-laced bait pellets that attract raccoons, a main carrier of the disease.

In late February or early March, county agencies will begin dropping roughly 500,000 palm-sized pellets along the Interstate 4 corridor in the counties of Polk, Hillsborough, Hernando, Pasco and portions of Lake and Sumter. The pellets will be dropped from the air in wooded areas and by workers on the ground in populated areas.

The plan is to create a rabies-free zone across 1,700 square miles in the center of the state. By reducing rabies in raccoons and other wildlife, officials said, infections in humans and their pets will be reduced.

Raccoons are inoculated against rabies when they bite into the fish-meal bait, which contain a small packet filled with a liquid vaccine. It is considered safe for other animals, but people should avoid handling the pellets without gloves, experts say.

Pinellas County was the first to introduce the vaccinated bait in 1995 after 145 people were treated for exposure to rabies, and animal control experts confirmed 30 rabies cases in raccoons and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of the vaccinated capsules were distributed along the county's northern border and in mid-county areas between 1995 and 2002. The number of confirmed rabies cases dropped from 30 in 1995 to four in 2002.

Dr. Welch Agnew, assistant director of Pinellas County Animal Services, said his department has been working with the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help create the new program. The program got a jump-start after the USDA granted the state $750,000 to expand it last year.

"The goal here is to expand on the success of the Pinellas program and control rabies in an area where there's a very high human population," said Terrence McElroy, a spokesman for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. "In the long term, we want to continue (the program) over succeeding years and knock this disease out of Florida."

Hillsborough County Animal Services Director Bill Armstrong said he hopes to use county and municipal resources to distribute about 225,000 pellets throughout the county.

"Ultimately, we'd like to see this program expanded to include the Jacksonville area," Armstrong said, "We'd like to reduce the number of outbreaks all along the East Coast going up to Canada."

Armstrong said he'll seek the County Commission's approval for the program on Jan. 22.

Pasco County Animal Control Manager Denise Hilton said she has begun corralling the county's resources to make sure the pellets are distributed this spring.

"We've long been between the number two and number three top spots for rabies outbreaks," Hilton said, "so we're hoping this will really help us get the problem under control."

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