The Maine Center for Disease Control and the Maine Department of Agriculture is reminding people to be cautious around wild animals and to vaccinate their horses and pets against rabies.
With the addition of two foxes in the same York County neighborhood testing positive for rabies, the increased number of rabies cases in the first month of 2012 has prompted authorities to issue a new warning.
In January 2012, 11 cases of rabies have been confirmed, while in 2011, only one animal tested positive for the virus. Rabid animals have been reported in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford and York counties. Horses and other equines are susceptible to contact with rabid animals when out on trails or in other areas where wild animals roam.
“The uncharacteristically warm winter weather that we’ve been experiencing and the lack of significant snowfall may be contributing to the increase by enabling wild animals to roam more freely,” said Dr. Don Hoenig, state veterinarian with the Maine Department of Agriculture, in a news release.
The rabies virus is spread when infected animals bite or scratch a person or another animal. The virus can also be spread if saliva or tissue from the brain or spinal cord touches broken skin or gets into the mouth, nose or eyes, Hoenig said.
The most common wild animals to carry rabies are raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes, and coyotes. Domestic mammals can also get rabies.
Dr. Stephen Sears, state epidemiologist from Maine CDC, reminds Mainers to avoid contact with wild animals, to keep their equines and pets close to home and to make sure all animals are up to date on rabies vaccination.
By avoiding contact with wild animals and maintaining all animals' vaccinations, the spread of rabies can be controlled.