ALTONA — A stray puppy brought from Canada tested positive for rabies after a brief illness that ended in its death.
"The dog began to show symptoms of illness and was taken to a vet for treatment, and it died overnight," said Clinton County Health Department Supervising Public Health Educator Karen Derusha on Wednesday.
"Considering the neurologic signs ... the protocol is to test the animal for rabies — usually to rule it out."
Meanwhile, the Health Department has been working with the puppy's owner to determine people and other animals it could have had contact with.
The dog crossed the border March 5, began showing symptoms April 1 and died April 3, the Health Department said.
ONSET VARIES
According to the Centers for Disease Control, dogs coming into the United States from Canada — and any other country where rabies is present — must be vaccinated.
Since puppies must be at least 3 months old to have the rabies vaccination, the CDC website says, the youngest a dog can be to be brought across the border is 4 months old.
"We do not know the specifics of how it got across the border," Derusha said. "Our focus has been on who may have come in contact with the dog."
She said there was no record showing the puppy had been vaccinated.
It had been a stray, Derusha was told, from someplace in northern Canada.
And as of Wednesday, the Health Department couldn't say whether the dog had been exposed to the deadly viral disease in Canada or once it was in the United States.
"The time between exposure to the rabies virus and the onset of symptoms varies so it is not known where or when the puppy contracted the disease," a press release said.
However, further testing was being done to determine if the dog contracted rabies of the fox or raccoon variant.
"That may provide some clues," Derusha said.
POST-EXPOSURE
The puppy had not bitten anyone, she said.
But while a bite is the most common way rabies is transmitted, she noted, according to the CDC, "it is also possible, but quite rare, that people may get rabies if infectious material from a rabid animal, such as saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth or a wound."
Rabies, a viral disease that affects the nervous system, is 100 percent fatal after symptoms develop.
But timely vaccination and preventive treatment can stop symptom onset, the Health Department said, "and should be administered to those who may have been exposed to rabies."
That treatment involves injections of human rabies immune globulin and rabies vaccine given on the day of the exposure followed by a dose of vaccine again on the third, seventh and 14th day.
A person who has already been vaccinated against rabies or previously had post-exposure injections, Derusha explained, undergoes a less rigorous treatment — no human globulin and the vaccine only the day of the exposure and then three days later.
INFECTED BATS
This year, there have been no other reported cases of dogs with rabies in Clinton County, Derusha said, nor cats.
In 2017, three bats that had interacted with humans tested positive for the disease.
But 27 people underwent post-exposure treatment as a precaution for various reasons, for example, because of a bite from a stray dog or cat that couldn't be found and put under watch for a 10-day period of observation, Derusha said.
"Or (a person) was awakened from sleep by a bat that got away."
“All individuals should exercise care with stray animals,” said Judy Ross, a principal public health sanitarian at the Health Department, in the release.
“When an animal is a stray, its vaccination status is unknown. There is also no way to know if it has been exposed to rabies or other diseases.”
Also, Derusha added, by law, "pets (dogs, cats and ferrets) should be and are required by law to be vaccinated for rabies."
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RABIES SYMPTOMS
Change in behavior may be the first sign that an animal has rabies, according to the New York State Department of Health.
• It may become unusually aggressive or tame, lose its fear of people and natural enemies; a wild animal may appear affectionate and friendly or become excited or irritable and attack anything in its path.
• Symptoms may include staggering, convulsions, choking, frothing at the mouth and paralysis, very unusual sounds.
• Infected animals usually die within a week of showing signs of rabies.
RABIES PRECAUTIONS
• Have pets vaccinated as soon as they reach 3 months of age. State law requires that all dogs, cats and ferrets be vaccinated against rabies by 4 months old. Vaccination is also recommended for livestock with frequent human contact.
•Report all animal bites to your local health department. It is very important that follow up is done on the biting animal to protect the health of the person bitten.
• Use caution around all wild animals especially raccoons, skunks and foxes. Talk to children now about not approaching wildlife, and to immediately tell a parent or adult if they see a wild animal.
• Secure all garbage in containers that will prevent access by wild animals.
• Do not feed wildlife or stray animals and discourage them from seeking food near your home. Feed pets indoors; leaving food outside will attract strays or wildlife.
•Report all contact with bats, including finding a bat in the same room with a sleeping person, to your local health department
•To prevent the spread of rabies, no one should transport or relocate trapped wild animals.
• Puppies, kittens and other small pets should not be left outside alone (even in a fenced area).
• If your pet fights with a wild animal, put gloves on before you handle the pet. Call your veterinarian or the local health department for advice.
• If an unvaccinated pet comes in contact with a rabid or suspected rabid animal, the pet must be quarantined for six months or euthanized.
• Vaccinated pets that come in contact with a rabid or suspected rabid animal must be given a booster rabies vaccination within five days of the contact.
•Spaying and neutering pets decreases undesirable behavior, like aggression and roaming and reduces the number of unwanted animals that may not be properly cared for or regularly vaccinated.
For more information on rabies, contact the Clinton County Health Department at 518-565-4870 or go to www.clintonhealth.org.
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