RANCHING Wildlife


Rabies in Texas


By Eric Fonken, DVM, MPAff, zoonosis control branch, Texas Department of State Health Services, and Laura E. Robinson, DVM, MS, director, oral rabies vaccination program, zoonosis control branch, Texas Department of State Health Services.


Article courtesy of Texas Emergency Management Online, Texas Department of Public Safety R


ABIES IS A VIRUS THAT CAN INFECT THE CENTRAL NERVOUS system of warm-blooded animals, including hu- mans. Worldwide it kills thousands of people


annually, mostly in Africa and Asia, with dogs being the primary source of transmission. In the U.S., the canine strain of rabies has largely been eliminated through the use of effective animal vaccines, the widespread adop- tion of mandatory vaccinations for dogs and cats, and effective animal control laws, among other strategies. Wildlife, particularly high-risk species such as bats,


skunks, raccoons, coyotes and foxes, continue to be a source of rabies infection for domestic animals and humans in Texas. In the mid-1990s, the Department of State Health


Services (DSHS) zoonosis control branch (ZCB) initiated successful oral rabies vaccination programs (ORVP), targeting large outbreaks of rabies in foxes in West and west-central Texas, along with coyotes in South Texas. Today, an ORVP for foxes and coyotes is maintained


along the Texas-Mexico border. In the last decade, skunks and bats have been the


primary reservoirs for rabies in Texas, and a study evaluating ORV in skunks was initiated in east-central Texas in 2012.


68 The Cattleman March 2015 Since the 1980s, domestically acquired human rabies


cases have most commonly resulted from exposure to rabid bats. In general, it has been estimated that about 1 percent of bats in the wild are infected with the rabies virus, although the risk of infection increases dramati- cally among sick or downed bats. On average, 10 percent of the bats submitted for ra-


bies testing in Texas are infected. Most species of bats have very small teeth so a minor bite or scratch can go unnoticed, leaving the victim unaware that they may have been exposed to rabies. Texas law requires that all potential rabies expo-


sures (bites, scratches, or other potential exposures) to humans or domestic animals be reported to the local rabies control authority (LRCA) and that the exposing animal, if available, be either quarantined and observed (10 days for healthy dogs, cats and ferrets; 30 days for most other domestic animals), or euthanized and tested for rabies at a public health laboratory. State law also requires that all dogs and cats in


Texas be vaccinated against rabies by 16 weeks of age. Effective vaccines are also available for other species of domestic animals. The rabies virus is present in the saliva of a rabid


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