Six deaths of rabies have been reported over the past 12 months in the United States, the highest number in years, according to the centers of control and prevention of diseases. Among the rabids in Kentucky to gray foxes in Arizona and Racon in Long Island, wild animals in more than ten places throughout the United States witnessed a rise in deadly disease, at least driven by reducing natural habitats and better monitoring.
“We are currently following 15 differently different outbreaks,” said Dr. Ryan Wallace, who leads the rabies team in the centers of diseases control and prevention. The areas with NASO Province, New York, which released a healthy threat to rabid animals last month, as well as Cape Code, Massachusetts, parts of Alaska, Arizona, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Min, North Carolina, Oregon and Vermont.
“There are parts of the United States where we seem to receive more calls and more reports,” Wallace said, noting an increase in fractured foxes in the West bats and rabid bats throughout the country. “Whether these numbers are really large increases, we can only say at the end of the year. But at the present time, in the peak season, the activity appears higher.”
Rabies are present in all states except Hawaii. Bats are the most common cause People infection in people They are also the most likely types Haser with virusAccording to the center of control and protecting it.
every year , 1.4 million Americans It is examined for a possible exposure to the dog’s virus and 100,000 gets a series of pollen injection to prevent them from developing the disease, according to the disease control.
Last month, Samantha Lang was one of them. Land, 22, is likely to bite from the bats that flew to her apartment from a hole on her roof in Greenwood, Indiana. The next day to notice small signs on her arm, she discovered the bats, alive, hanging from venting air conditioning. After contacting the local Ministry of Health, it was urged to receive rabies after exposure. I got it immediately.
“I didn’t think I would reduce it,” Lang said.
The dog’s disease virus invades the central nervous system and is always fatal once the symptoms start. It may resemble early symptoms, which can start about a week or up to a year after exposure, influenza and quickly apply to confusion, paralysis, saliva, hallucinations and difficulty swallowing, followed by death within weeks.
Experts say that the number of human deaths over the past year is concerned. In comparison, from 2015 to 2024, 17 cases of human dog disease were reported, two of which were contracted outside the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control.
People are often exposed to rabies virus through an infected wild animal saliva that can enter the mouth, eyes or wound, which is why the bites are very dangerous. Before the sixties of the last century, most cases in humans were infected pets, usually a dog. Thanks to the laws of strict petalization, the dog breed of dog disease was eliminated from the United States
One of the most dramatic increases in wildlife infections was in Franklin County, near the research triangle area in the center of North Carolina, which witnessed the doubling of confirmed cases in wild animals during the past year.
“As for the number of confirmed cases, it is 100 % up, and we are not even more than the season of rabies for this year, this is a big problem,” said Scott Lavin, the provincial director of the province.
Lavin doubts that urban growth that was transgressing wild animals was an important factor that leads the spread of rabies.
He said: “The population of Franklin Province has increased since 2010 by 35 %, and these people have to live somewhere.” “Thus, you see an increase in land and housing development.”
Lavin said that the animals that may have been isolated by now crowded, and if one gets rabies, it is more likely to spread to others in the group.
People may not always know that they have been exposed to a rabid animal. The death of people was reported He did not realize that they had been bitten Or scratching the bats, which rejected life saving vaccines.
In December, a California teacher died a month after the bats were removed from the semester. She did not know that she was infected.
The virus can develop and appear in different ways, depending on animal species and strain. Most people expect that an urgent and villainous animal will be, but sometimes the affected animal can be easy to drive.
“There is a strain of rabies where animals become very friendly,” said Lavin. “The Raccon family saw this kind of front steps and was sick and was very nice and wanted to be reinforced. And you know that when the raccoon does not prohibit their teeth, it is very nice.”
The family found the animal and fed it until he died. “They contacted animal services to pick up the body,” said Lavin.
Fears about dog vaccination rates
Since rabies seem to be spreading more in wildlife, veterinarians are particularly concerned about the spread of vaccines among pet owners, a dangerous trend that can lead to more dogs – and their owners – get injured. Study 2023 published in the magazine Rheumatic It was found in a representative sample at the national level of Americans that nearly 40 % believe that dog vaccines were unsafe and 37 % believe that vaccines can lead their dogs to develop cognitive issues, such as autism.
Dr.
“It is a problem that we are concerned about, which may be in the future,” Motta said. “If we continue to see the vulnerable vaccination rates or increase the vaccine frequency, will we see [rabies] In more pets, not just wildlife? We are a kind of starting the sound of warnings. “
Raby disease vaccines after exposure have come a long way since the shots were injected into the stomach of people. The current chain includes an injected dose of immunoglobulin, which contains antibodies for rabies, immediately after exposure, followed by four vaccine injections. All shots are now given in the arm.
Experts say that the thumb base is that rabies should be suspected of any time a wild animal behaves in an anomaly, whether it is very aggressive, not known, or very friendly.