Credit National Science Foundation
Four rabies cases have been confirmed in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta recently. Three rabid foxes and one rabid dog were found in Nightmute, Alakanuk, and Bethel. Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Lauri Meythaler-Mullins has been working in all three places to vaccinate pets, and to diagnose and confirm cases. She said that the dog that had rabies was euthanized.
“And there were three other dogs in addition that had been euthanized because they came into contact. They were bit by rabid foxes. All four of these dogs, they were not vaccinated,” said Meythaler-Mullins.
Having a vaccine against rabies can make the difference between life and death for a dog. Meythaler-Mullins said that a vaccinated dog does not have to be euthanized if bitten by a rabid animal. Instead, they are quarantined for 45 days and given another vaccine. An unvaccinated animal is not so fortunate.
Posted: Apr 13, 2021 1:15 PM PT | Last Updated: April 13
Cats that are too stressed by the testing process won t be sampled.(Colin Butler/CBC News) comments
And, conversely, can Fluffy transmit it to you?
Those are the big questions a small project by the B.C. Centre for Disease Control is hoping to answer in its just launched
To help in the effort, the BCCDC is looking to wrangle 40 cats from volunteer homes with COVID-19 positive humans. We started thinking about this project back in the spring when we first started hearing indications that pets were getting infected with COVID at a very low level, said principal investigator and Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Erin Fraser.
A Carver County house cat tested positive in June, according to the Minnesota Board of Animal Health. It s a good reminder that the virus can be transmitted from people to animals, said Dr. Beth Thompson, state veterinarian. People who test positive with COVID-19 or suspect they have it should avoid contact with pets and other animals to protect them from possible infection, state officials said. We have not seen any evidence of COVID passing from pet or wild captive cats to humans, said state Public Health Veterinarian Dr. Joni Scheftel.
Staff at the Wildcat Sanctuary in Pine County noticed in early January that there were lions, tigers and cougars that were displaying COVID-19 symptoms. After consulting with state animal health officials about testing for the virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture s National Veterinary Services Laboratories confirmed Sabrina, a 21-year-old female Sumatran/Bengal tiger, had COVID-19.