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Guest column
Keep your family, pets safe from this year-round threat
By JUDITH TEAR
Published December 24, 2005
Could you be a victim of a rabid animal? Yes. Last summer in Citrus County, a rabies alert was posted for more than three months. Rabid foxes attacked five Citrus residents between July 9 and Aug. 31. It's important, though, to remember that rabies is present year-round. In fact, a person was scratched and bitten by a rabid cat in Lecanto this month.
WHAT IS RABIES? Rabies is a virus that attacks the brain and nervous system. Symptoms can include a change in the animal's behavior (including avoiding light), irritability or restlessness, eating unusual items, increased salivation and difficulty swallowing leading to drooling, lack of coordination, aggressiveness, convulsions and seizures. (Most rabid animals do not exhibit all of these signs.)
It is passed from animal to animal and from animal to human. Raccoons, bats, foxes, coyotes and skunks commonly carry the rabies virus and in the early stages may not have symptoms. Rabbits, squirrels, hamsters, gerbils, rats and other rodents are rarely found to be infected and have not been known to cause rabies in humans in Florida.
Cats, cattle and dogs are the most frequently reported rabid domestic animals. In 2004, six raccoons, two cats and one fox tested positive in Citrus.
In humans, rabies is always fatal unless shots are given before the virus reaches the brain. The series of preventive shots are no longer given in the abdomen and are not painful, as they were years ago.
HOW DOES RABIES SPREAD? The virus lives in saliva of infected animals, which spread the virus to other animals or humans by scratching or biting. The blood of an infected animal does not contain the virus. Raccoons are known to be able to survive rabies and can be contagious without having any symptoms.
HOW CAN I PROTECT MY PET AND MY FAMILY? Keep pets' rabies vaccinations up to date. Pets are vaccinated to prevent them from getting the disease from wildlife and passing it on to humans.
Keep your cats and ferrets indoors. Keep your dogs under direct supervision.
Avoid all free-roaming dogs, cats and wild animals.
Do not feed or pet wild animals. Don't leave pet food outside and make sure that garbage is not accessible to animals.
Contact the Citrus County Health Department at 527-0068 if someone is bitten or scratched by any animal or bat. A fatal infection from rabies can be prevented through treatment available at the Health Department. The department gave preventive rabies shots to 36 people in 2004. Almost 113 of those shots were given to children younger than 12.
To avoid animal bites, never leave young children alone with pets. Teach your children to be careful around all pets and to avoid all wild animals. Of all bites reported last year, almost 20 percent involved children younger than 12 and almost 75 percent involved pets.
Contact Citrus County Animal Services to report any stray animals at 726-7660.
Editor's note: This public service article on health safety was provided by Judith Tear, public information officer and emergency coordinator at the Health Department. For information, call 527-0068.
[Last modified December 24, 2005, 01:09:13]
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