County studies request for rabies notification system

By DAN KEGLEY/Staff

Rabies notifications are on the county ordinance committee’s docket after the board of supervisors Tuesday heard Wes Collins ask for public notices when animals test positive for the lethal disease.
“I’d like to see if we could have someone drive through the community when a rabid animal is found,” Collins told the supervisors.
Collins told the supervisors about a raccoon from the Horseshoe Bend Road section that had rabies, according to a health department test.
Last week, Collins said he expected an animal control officer or health official to come checking on animals in the area after the raccoon tested positive. “I was surprised when the dog catcher didn’t come through. For years I always thought someone would tell us when there’s rabies.”
There’s no legal requirement for official follow-ups to rabies cases by animal control officers or health officials. Smyth County Health Department’s Lavonda Carson said she did speak with two residents in the area at homes where she saw dogs outside to inform them of the rabid raccoon, and followed up with a letter sent to each home.
There may be many more rabid animals than are reported. Only animals that come into contact with people are counted, Carson said. Those that remain in the wild are never counted. Nor are those only observed behaving oddly.
Sick animals that become known to people number fewer than a half-dozen annually in Smyth County. Since 1999, and excluding the case this year, the number of reported rabid animals averaged 2.7 per year, with as many as six in 2004 and one each for 1999 and 2001, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
Three species were reported to have contracted rabies the county, 15 raccoons, nine skunks and a cow.
Awareness of cases, Collins suggested last week, would prompt people to be more careful in feeding their outdoor pets. Leftover food, both he and te VDH said, can attract animals that might be carrying the disease to people’s homes, raising the possibility of contact with the virus.
There are laws requiring notification, but only for outbreaks of rabies. “There’s got to be a better way to get the word out and warn people,” Collins said.
According to Carson, however, people need to assume rabies is around them.
Carson warned last week that public notifications about rabies might have an opposite effect on public safety than they intend. “People would have a false sense of security if they thought it is only in one area.”
Instead of relying on notices, people should always assume rabies is in the area, be continually vigilant for it, and not just after cases are reported, Carson said.
“Rabies is endemic in the area. It is there,” she said.
On Tuesday, Collins suggested animal control officers could drop off in affected neighborhoods copies of the rabies information pamphlets available to print out from the VDH Web site.
Alternately, the county could “publish a warning or notice in the Smyth County paper,” Collins said.
Supervisor Darlene Neitch agreed with Collins. “It would be nice to have some way of notifying the public when a case has been confirmed.”
Supervisor Charlie Clark recommended sending the matter to the ordinance committee.
County Attorney John Tate said he remembered when Mount Rogers Health District Director Dr. Craig Smith “put notices in the paper, warnings, usually in the fall. “I’m not sure what ordinance we could adopt,” Tate said.
Supervisor Marvin Perry recalled a “bad outbreak of rabies probably 30 years ago” during his tenure as county administrator. “It was in the paper.”
The health department, he said, has the authority to issue notices. “We do need more information on it in the paper, brochures, what to expect, what to do. I would not want to give that responsibility to animal control.”
On Feb. 1, the county health department announced its annual boost in vigilance against rabies during Rabies Awareness Week, set this year for March 10-16.
The notice mentions the “positive raccoon rabies case confirmed on January 22, 2008 in the Horseshoe Bend Road area of Chilhowie.”
The release included information about rabies, and said the department “strongly advises people to follow this guidance to prevent families and pets from being exposed to rabies: vaccinate all cats, dogs and ferrets against rabies and keep them up to date; avoid contact with wild animals or stray cats and dogs; do not feed wild animals or stray cats and dogs, report stray animals to your local animal control agency; eliminate outdoor food sources around the home, keep pets confined to your property or walk them on a leash.”
State law requires all dogs and cats over the age of four months to be vaccinated against rabies. Vaccines can be given as early as three months and one product is approved for kittens at eight weeks. Dog licenses are required throughout the state and some communities require licenses for cat, the release said.
On Tuesday, Tate recommended the supervisors refer the request for case notifications to the county ordinance committee “and maybe they’d ask Dr. Smith to meet with them.”
Supervisor Mike Roberts concurred, suggesting such a meeting “to see what the protocol is.”
A unanimous vote made Tate and Roberts’ suggestions official.