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16 People Treated for Rabies after Handling Baby Racoon
Friday, May 09, 2008 - 10:04 AM
File photo of young racoons. Photo By: AP
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information from the Island Packet:
Sixteen people are being treated after feeding, holding and kissing a baby raccoon on Hilton Head Island that has tested positive for rabies.
Twenty pets are under quarantine for 45 days, and seven more people might need vaccines.
"Someone adopted a baby raccoon and passed it around to everyone they knew and kissed it on the lips," said Clair Boatwright, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. "There was a lot of affectionate handling, kissing it and feeding it."
Boatwright said the baby raccoon did not show signs of rabies, but got sick on Monday and was euthanized Tuesday. The animal was then sent to DHEC, where it tested positive for rabies.
In most cases, Boatwright said, wild animals will not show signs of rabies, and people will not experience symptoms if they are exposed to the disease.
"Once you have a symptom, it has reached the brain and it is fatal," she said. "If you are exposed to the disease, it doesn't mean you have developed the disease. That's when we can prevent it."
Sixteen people are being treated after feeding, holding and kissing a baby raccoon on Hilton Head Island that has tested positive for rabies.
Twenty pets are under quarantine for 45 days, and seven more people might need vaccines.
"Someone adopted a baby raccoon and passed it around to everyone they knew and kissed it on the lips," said Clair Boatwright, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. "There was a lot of affectionate handling, kissing it and feeding it."
Boatwright said the baby raccoon did not show signs of rabies, but got sick on Monday and was euthanized Tuesday. The animal was then sent to DHEC, where it tested positive for rabies.
In most cases, Boatwright said, wild animals will not show signs of rabies, and people will not experience symptoms if they are exposed to the disease.
"Once you have a symptom, it has reached the brain and it is fatal," she said. "If you are exposed to the disease, it doesn't mean you have developed the disease. That's when we can prevent it."