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RABIES OCCURRENCE IN THE TRI-CITIES AREA

I get lots of calls from customers each year who are worried about the potential risk of rabies. Rabid animals are dangerous and, if untreated, rabies is always fatal. Concerns regarding this disease are warranted. Fortunately, rabies occurrence around the Bristol, Johnson City, and Kingsport, TN areas are relatively low in comparison to the past and when compared to third world countries.

Global Rabies Status

Other countries without a well-developed rabies prevention system have much greater issues with rabies. This is the case in many localities in Africa, India, and South East Asia. There was a 2009 outbreak in Angola where 93 children died from the disease. Globally, 59,000 people die of rabies each year. On a worldwide scale, exposure to rabid dogs is responsible for 90% of rabies exposures and 99% of rabies deaths. Vaccinating pets is key to controlling transmission to humans and controlling outbreaks. Make sure that you keep your pet vaccinated. This protects your pet as well as yourself.

Rabies in the United States

Generally speaking, authorities in the United States maintain a close check on rabies cases and an aggressive vaccination program that helps keep things in check. According to the Center for Disease Control statistics, this program has been very successful. Before 1960 most detected cases of rabies occurred in domestic animals. In 2015 domestic animals represented 47.6% of animals tested, but only 7.6% of positive test. Today most cases are found in wild animals. Wild animals accounted for 92.4% of reported cases of rabies in 2015. Human cases have dropped from 100 per year at the turn of the century to only about two or three per year.

Rabies in Wild Animals in Our Region

Vaccinating domestic animals is a relatively simple matter. Domestic animals are much easier to subdue for vaccination, and vaccines can be injected in a controlled environment. Wildlife populations are a different matter completely. Vaccine packets can be air dropped in an attempt to vaccinate wildlife, but this technique certainly does not allow for 100% coverage. There will always be animals that will miss vaccination.

Rabies Variants in Wildlife Species

Each species that is likely to carry rabies has its own variant of the disease. Raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes, coyotes, and other species all have their own variant of the disease. These variants of the rabies virus are specific to certain wildlife species. Bats for example, have their own strain of rabies. Mostly the disease stays within the species, though it is certainly capable of being transmitted between species. A rabid raccoon, for example, can transmit the disease to a dog if the dog is bitten.

A good example of this came to me from a lady I met in 2016 while I was doing a groundhog removal project who told a story from her childhood. Her father’s cattle had fallen ill and when the vet came, he determined that it was rabies. Her father had to be vaccinated because he had been working with the cattle. Her mother was coming home and had a fox attack her car as it was traveling down the driveway to the house. It was determined that the fox had transmitted rabies to the cattle.

Bats

Bats are the most prevalent U.S. wildlife species to test positive for rabies composing 30.9% of confirmed positive test. Bats also have their own variant of rabies. Center of Disease Control distribution maps do not show regions were the strain of “bat rabies” is prevalent. This is probably because bats are much more mobile when compared to four legged animals. Instead “bat rabies” is widely dispersed over their entire range. Bat rabies is not isolated in any particular parts of the U.S.

People who actually develop symptoms of rabies die! Of people who develop symptoms in the United States, bats are much more likely to have been the transmitter and this is due to two factors. First, most pets, the primary transmitters in other countries, are vaccinated. And second, because bats are one of the few rabies-transmitting species groups that tends to turn up inside homes. They are small, quiet, and can infect through a small bite that might not be noticed by the victim. Victims may be asleep, intoxicated, or too young to communicate the problem to adults. Unnoticed bites can go untreated and it is too late for treatment once symptoms present themselves. If there is any possibility that you have made contact with a bat while sleeping, the bat should undergo testing. If the bat is unavailable for testing, then you need to see your physician for prophylactic treatment.

CDC trend charts show bats testing positive for rabies on a slight upward trend in the United States since the mid-90s. I do not have a reason for this, but I will certainly continue with rabies safety procedures for customers who have made contact with a bat. In 2017 we had a call from a customer who had someone in the home bitten by a bat while sleeping in their bedroom. The bat was captured and tested positive for rabies.

Raccoon

The distribution of “Raccoon Rabies” lies along the eastern seaboard and extends westward to the Appalachian Mountains. The Tri-cities region lies on or close to the western border of the “raccoon rabies” zone. This makes proper handling of raccoons critical. Raccoons should definitely not be relocated after trapping. Rabies does not immediately show symptoms and it is entirely possible that infected animals could be relocated into rabies-free zones creating new outbreaks. Do not relocate rabies vector species, especially raccoons. A field agent from the U.S.D.A mentioned to me that two cases of raccoon rabies were confirmed in Big Stone Gap Virginia. The national number of reported cases of rabies in raccoons has fallen by half since the early to mid ‘90s when there was a dramatic spike.

Skunk

Skunks are the third most reported species infected with rabies in the U.S. at 24.8%. Range maps show a large pocket of skunk-strain rabies on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains. This large pocket of “skunk rabies“ runs westward and covers about two thirds of the eastern portion of the state. This places the Tri-Cities on the eastern border of the skunk strain zone. One skunk tested positive in our area in Virginia in 2016.

Fox

U.S. fox tested much lower than aforementioned species at 5.9%. One fox tested positive in 2017 that I am aware of. It was northeast of our immediate region.

Coyote

Coyotes are considered a rabies-vector species and can carry the disease. I did not find any additional data on infection rates for coyotes in our area.

Opossum

While opossums can contract rabies, they are not commonly a carrier of the disease. I did not find rabies trend lines for opossums.

Monitoring by U.S.D.A.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is in charge of monitoring rabies in the United States. They have regional offices in both Tennessee and Virginia and monitor rabies in our area. They often work with Wildlife Control Operators like the Wildlife Company because we come into contact with so many rabies-vector animals each year. They have a voluntary testing program available that screens animals that Wildlife Controllers remove from clients homes. They also test roadside carcasses and animals that are turned in by homeowners.

Sick and Strange Acting Animals

Each year I receive numerous calls regarding sick or strange acting animals. Customers always ask if I think that the animal in question has rabies. The Wildlife Company does not test for rabies, and obviously, it is impossible to diagnose rabies over the phone.

I give the same advice to each caller. Be careful, don’t get bitten, and don’t make contact with bodily fluids from the animal. Are strange-acting animals likely to have rabies? One of the local USDA field agent in the Tri-cities area in charge of local testing said that, of animals that are “sick or strange acting”, about 10% test positive. Of animals that are not “sick or strange acting”, generally only 1 or 2% test positive for rabies. Consider this before you load that raccoon or skunk into your car for release into a new home. You could potentially be destroying many animals and endangering people in the release area. It is also illegal to relocate rabies vector species in both Tennessee and Virginia. Please give us a call if you find yourself in a questionable situation.

50 Raccoons to the Square Mile  

I spoke with an employee at the USDA office in Bristol. The USDA monitors and manages the rabies situation in our region. I learned that raccoons spread rabies faster than skunks, and a single infected animal can cause an outbreak that covers a square mile in about two weeks. Larger urban centers like Kingsport, Bristol, and Johnson City have higher raccoon densities (under 50 raccoons/square mile) because of increased food availability. Higher raccoon population densities makes rabies outbreaks in population centers more likely and more severe not less likely.  A single infected raccoon feeding in a dumpster with friends can infect a lot more raccoons than if it were feeding alone by a creek.

We are very lucky here, at this time, or rabies situation is well in check and we have very few cases. Large metropolitan areas to the north have much bigger raccoon problems (600 raccoons/square mile) and can have a couple of cases of rabies per week. But a single raccoon relocation can create an outbreak that is hard and expensive to stamp out. Rabies vaccine packets have to be air dropped to stomp out a rabies outbreak and treating an area can cost two million dollars.  I am including a link to the USDA National Rabies Management Program that shows where rabies vaccine packets have been distributed. 

“Rabies.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 July 2017, www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/usa/surveillance/wild_animals.html.