Rabies Prevention
Among domesticated animals, the number one means of prevention of rabies is vaccination. Rabies vaccination is required for dog registration across the United States and for cats in some states. To keep cats safe, the best thing to do is either to immunize them whether or not it is required, or allow them to be inside cats, who do not go outdoors. Another method of rabies prevention is to supervise your dog’s outings into areas where wild animals live. Letting a dog or cat run loose leaves them open to exposure to wild animals.
It is imperative to reduce contact between domestic and wild animals whenever possible. That means not feeding wild animals, whether at home or in the wild. Whenever you see a wild animal that acts like its balance is off or it cannot stand straight, you should avoid contact with the animal. That also applies to animals who are foaming at the mouth, or acting very aggressive by growling or attacking.
Rabies prevention is critical because once rabies symptoms develop, there is no effective treatment or cure. Whether animal or human, death from rabies is inevitable. Scientists have been working on blood tests for rabies for many years, but so far this approach to diagnosis has not been successful.
Rabies Statistics
The most current rabies statistics in the United States show that in 2007, there were 7259 cases of reported rabies. That included one human being, while 7258 were in animals. The incidence of rabies in humans was down, with three cases reported the previous year. Rabies in animals, however, increased by 4.6% during the same time period.
The good news is that only 7% of these cases of rabies in animals were in domestic animals. The other 93% were in wild animals. Rabies cases decreased in cats, cattle, and skunks but increased in foxes, bats, and dogs. Raccoons remain at the top of the list when it comes to transmission of rabies from wild to domestic animals. The percentage of rabies cases by groups were: 36.6% raccoons, 27.2% bats, 20.4% skunks, 6.7% foxes, 3.8% cats, 1.3% dogs and 0.8% dairy cattle.
There was not any transmission of rabies from dog to dog, which is especially good news for dog lovers. The one human being who contracted rabies was from Minnesota, and while no verifiable method of transmission was present, it was believed to have been from a bat. The individual in question had held a bat and at the time remarked that a pinching sensation had been felt upon releasing it.
In other parts of the world, rabies is still a series human threat. Over 55,000 people die of rabies worldwide each year. The majority of these people live in Africa and Asia. While this figure is disheartening enough by itself, what makes the number of rabies cases in humans even more distressing is that seventy-percent of those dying are children under the age of fifteen.
Every day, worldwide, 100 children die from rabies. Another startling statistic is that one human being dies of rabies every ten minutes. The best way to prevent these deaths is by vaccination of all domestic animals, especially dogs, and by controlling the numbers of strays with better animal control programs. Mexico is an excellent example of this solution. After five years of initiating a dog vaccination program, the cases of human rabies in Mexico have declined from sixty cases each year to twenty.
