Rabies cases up; 3 found in animals at school

Cronkite News Service

and Dan Shearer

Green Valley News

An unusually large number of rabid skunks, including several in the Sahuarita-Green Valley area, has made Pima County a hot spot for rabies cases in Arizona.

Three of the rabid skunks were found on school property in Sahuarita, including one that caused a brief lockdown of the high school until the animal was taken away.

Pima County leads all Arizona counties with 37 cases of rabies this year, 25 of them involving skunks, through April 20.

Sahuarita had three cases from Feb. 24 to March 19 involving skunks, and a case March 24 involving a rabid fox. Green Valley had one rabies case involving a skunk on April 8, and Amado had a skunk case April 4.

Officials urge caution around skunks that act friendly toward humans and that do so during the day, said Patti Woodcock, community relations manager for the Pima County Health Department.

“If a nocturnal animal like a skunk or a bat is out in the daytime, that is a sure sign that something is wrong,” she said.

Manny Valuenzuela, assistant superintendend for the Sahuarita Unified School District, said humane traps have been set around the school to protect the campus, and that a letter went home to parents updating them on the rabid skunks.

State health officials told lawmakers in late April that an increase in Arizonans living near and recreating in wilderness areas has contributed to the record number of rabies cases.

So far this year, the Arizona Department of Health Services has confirmed rabies in 103 animals, putting the state on pace to eclipse the record of 176 cases set last year, said Craig Levy, vector-borne disease director for the Arizona Department of Health Services.

“We are on track this year, unfortunately, of setting another state record,” he told the Senate Committee on Government Institutions.

Levy said rabies outbreaks are cyclical and will abate with time. Better rainfall in recent years has increased the population of skunks, foxes, bobcats, bats and other creatures that carry rabies, and the disease eventually will reduce those numbers, he said.

Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and is spread most commonly through bites from infected animals. It’s always fatal in humans once symptoms appear but can be prevented in exposed individuals through the prompt administration of shots.

There is no treatment for unvaccinated pets.

Levy said officials are especially concerned with summer approaching.

“You’re going to have a lot of people camping and fishing, and we want them all to be prepared,” Levy said.

Those venturing into the wilderness should be ready for encounters with rabid animals, Levy said. Running is a good option when facing skunks, which can’t keep up, but he said foxes and bobcats are highly aggressive when they contract rabies and will catch up to you.

“A good walking stick, believe it or not, is one of the best forms of protection,” Levy said.

Laura Oxley, the communications director for the Department of Health Services, said that the number of rabid bats usually picks up in the summer as bats migrate from Mexico.

Jayne Cundy, public service supervisor for the county-run Pima Animal Care Center, said dog owners should be sure their pets’ rabies vaccinations are current and keep them on a leash when walking and hiking.

Cundy said Pima County tends to lead the state in rabies cases, but they usually aren’t as concentrated as they are now.

Rabies cases

Cases in Arizona, by county, through April 20:

Pima: 37

Coconino: 21

Cochise: 15

Santa Cruz: 11

Yavapai: 7

Maricopa, Pinal: 2

Gila, Greenlee: 1

Apache, Graham, La Paz, Mohave, Navajo, Yuma: 0

Source: Arizona Department of Health Services

Here’s help

The county-run Pima Animal Care Center deals with rabies cases and can be reached at 520-243-5900.