rabies

[mark@madbbs.com]

We have to agree with Dr. Newell- In 16 years of private practice and the last two years of regulatory state work - my husband and I have vaccinated thousands of animals for rabies - from horses to ferrets, and have Never, repeat, Never, had a reaction. 

 

In New York State, a goat at a county fair was positive for rabies and several hundred people had to be treated for post exposure. As I said before on this list, we also dealt with a horse who died of the disease.

 

I ran a Humane Society where the county sent suspect animals for processing to be sent to the lab.  In the four years I was there, we had many rabid bats, several rabid cats, racoons, skunks and a dog.  You can believe that my kennel staff and technicians were vaccinated.

 

The disease has no cure - once you become clinical there is nothing that can be done but wait for a horrible death.  The reason that there have been only a few deaths in the US over the last many years, is that public health departments are very cautious about ordering post exposure treatment.  Goodness knows how many people would have suffered and died if there had not been this "hysteria" that Trish writes about.

 

I will vaccinate my horses, and recomend it to my clients and friends - I would never want to risk the chance that my child would be exposed and die this horrible death.  BTW, the last person to die of rabies in New York State was a nine year old girl.  The source of contact was never known.

 

Laura Hayes