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The press release below may be outdated and no longer applicatory, but is
listed here for your reference to help you better serve our community
along side Lewis County Public Health. Should you have any questions or
concerns about any of these releases, please contact us immediately.
NEWS RELEASE
June 24, 2008
For more information contact
Carol
Paluck, Interim Director and Supervising Public Health Nurse at 376-5453.
Three Town of Croghan residents are receiving rabies
post exposure treatment after contact with a rabid bat. An adult will be
treated after a bat flew at the individual, clung to the person’s shirt
and had to be brushed off. Two small children are also being treated
after they may have had contact with the downed bat when playing. In
addition, an unvaccinated pet cat was exposed to the bat and had to be
euthanized. The bat was captured safely and sent for testing to the NYS
Department of Health Rabies Laboratory. The test was reported to Lewis
County Public Health Department on June 17th.
It is important to capture a bat if it comes in
contact with a person so it can be tested for rabies. Not all bats have
rabies. Only 3-4% of bats tested have rabies. But because rabies is an
invariably fatal disease, people who have contact with a bat must be
treated unless the bat can be tested and rabies ruled out.
There is currently a shortage of rabies vaccine for
humans due to industry production problems. Therefore, to avoid use of
the vaccine, unless absolutely necessary, residents are encouraged to
capture a bat that has had contact with people but avoid destroying the
bat’s head. If a bat is in your home and has contact with a person or is
found in the bedroom of a child or a sleeping or disabled adult, it should
be tested. To capture a bat, turn on lights and wait till the bat lands,
approach the bat with an empty container about the size of a coffee can
and put it over the bat. Then slide a piece of cardboard under the
container when it is over the bat to force it into the container. Tape
the cardboard to the container and call Public Health for instructions.
The best
way to protect against rabies is to have pet dogs and cats vaccinated.
New York State Law requires all dogs and cats to be vaccinated when they
are 3 months old, one year later and every three years thereafter. Pet
vaccination protects people because pets are the mammals with which people
have most frequent contact.
For more
information about rabies call Lewis County Public Health at 376-5453 or go
to our website: www.lewiscountypublichealth.com.
