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Some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about urban/suburban wildlife fielded by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologists are about rabies.
WDFW wildlife biologist Ella Rowan, assistant to State Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Kristin Mansfield, answers the top five.
What wildlife species in Washington carry rabies?
Any species of mammal can contract rabies and die from it, but only a few are actual vectors. The virus is found in an animal’s saliva and nervous system, and it usually passes from one animal to another via a bite wound. It may be possible to contract the virus through a scratch or mucous membrane contact, but this would be extremely difficult and a rare occurrence.
Within Washington, the primary vectors for rabies are bats, but it is estimated that less than one in 10,000 bats has the virus. No other wild animal species has been found with rabies in Washington. Within the United States, other potential vectors include coyotes, raccoons, skunks, fox, and other carnivores.
What symptoms might suggest a rabid animal?
Rabies is an impossible disease to diagnose just by looking at an animal’s behavior. The disease shares symptoms with other diseases such as distemper; therefore, the only way to be certain an animal has rabies is to have it tested.
Some symptoms may include loss of fear of humans, aggression, lethargy, loss of appetite, loss of ability to drink (may lose ability to swallow, which causes “foaming” of saliva), disorientation, staggering, inability to climb trees or fly (bats), emaciation, and many others.
How should people avoid getting rabies from wildlife?
The best way to avoid contracting rabies is to avoid handling wildlife species that may be vectors. Professional wildlife biologists, zoo employees, and others who regularly handle wild animals are educated about the risks and proper protection equipment. Wildlife biologists who handle rabies vectors are vaccinated against rabies for additional protection.
Cats and dogs should be vaccinated against rabies to protect themselves, as well as family members who can contract the disease should their pet become infected. Cats and dogs may become infected if they bite, or are bitten by, a rabid bat. They may find the sick bat on the ground outside, where it is easily accessible.
Bats can occasionally make their way into homes where doors are left open, or that are not well sealed from the outdoors. Sheds, barns and attics are also frequent roosting sites for bats. Bats can fit through very tiny openings, as small as one-half inch.
Children may contract rabies due to their innate curiosity and ignorance of the dangers of touching wild animals they find on the ground. They may also lack the ability to tell a grown up that they were bitten.
The rabies virus cannot live outside the body for very long, so people need not be afraid of wild animals sharing their yards with their pets, or touching objects that the owners will touch at some point.
What should you do if you have contact with what might be a rabid animal?
If the animal is a potential rabies vector (bat, raccoon, skunk, fox, badger, cat, dog) and it has bitten or scratched you, attempt to capture and confine the animal -- if that’s possible without being further injured -- and call your local animal control authority. Seek medical attention immediately (within one day) and explain all the circumstances to the doctor. You may need to receive post-exposure rabies treatment as a precaution. If animal control authorities can retrieve the animal, it may be possible to test the animal for rabies. Testing still requires euthanizing the animal so that brain tissue can be examined. Recent advances include tests that don’t require euthanization, but the possibility of the test being wrong is still too great to take chances, considering this virus is lethal.
How common or rare is rabies transmission to humans from wildlife?
Wild animals are the most important potential source of infection for both humans and domestic animals in the U.S. Between one and three people become infected every year.
Since 1950, 50 people in the U.S. have contracted rabies directly from wildlife species, primarily bats, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, and foxes. Two of those cases were in Washington in the 1990’s, both from bats, although one case involved a person who had no recollection of encountering bats.
The majority of human cases of rabies over the past few decades have been attributed to variants of rabies carried by bats, but many victims did not remember being bitten by a bat. This means there may have been an intermediate vector (cat, dog, other wildlife species) that actually bit the person.
Only one human is known to have survived rabies without having been vaccinated prior to being bitten, and all vaccinated survivors also received extensive post-exposure treatment.
In the early 1900’s, dogs were the primary vector for rabies. Now it is very rare for cats and dogsin the U.S. to become rabid, thanks to pet vaccinations. Domestic animals such as cats, dogs, cattle, horses, sheep, and goats have tested positive for rabies, but their numbers remain relatively low. Cats accounted for most of the rabid domestic animals in 2007 (274 out of 482 cases in the U.S.), and this may be due to cats being left outdoors and their tendency to kill or fight with wildlife that may be sick with rabies.
Outside of the U.S., approximately 50,000 people die every year due to rabies. Most of these cases occur in developing countries (India, Africa, Middle East) and are caused by rabid dogs.
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