Isle of Wight, Beach report a spurt in rabies cases

By Dave Forster
The Virginian-Pilot

An early run of rabies cases this year, including a fox attack on three people, has health officials in Virginia Beach and Isle of Wight County urging residents to be careful out there.

In Isle of Wight County, three confirmed cases in the past week brought its yearly count to five , matching the county’s total for each of the past two years. Virginia Beach already is at its 2005 total with seven confirmed cases, the most the city has seen since it counted 19 in 2002 .

Spring often brings the bulk of rabies cases as people begin to venture outside, health officials said. T he recent stretch, however, has alarmed some, including Smithfield police Chief Mark Marshall , whose agency is in Isle of Wight.

“This is an anomaly,” Marshall said. “That’s why I’m concerned.”

Health officials said the numbers do not necessarily indicate a greater prevalence of the disease; still, they want to warn people of the risk.

In Virginia Beach’s most recent case last week, a rabid fox terrorized a stretch of homes on Haversham Close in the Chelsea area near Broad Bay before a resident killed it.

The animal bit two people in their yards, scratched a third and went after two dogs, each time hitting a different address, said Valerie Thompson , environmental health supervisor for the Virginia Beach Department of Public Health .

People sometimes can intimidate a healthy wild animal by standing their ground, but that doesn’t work with a sick animal, said Mike Fies , a wildlife research biologist with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries . Rabid animals usually look disoriented or show an awkward gait, he said.

“You want to get away from it,” Fies said. “It’s not going to be afraid of you if it has rabies, no matter what you do.”

I f you do trap or kill a rabid animal, preserve the head, said Harry Bennett , environmental health manager for Portsmouth. Labs need the brain to test for rabies.

Rabies is transferred when the saliva of an infected animal enters a person’s body, such as through a scratch or a bite. After an attack, quick medical attention is crucial.

The disease is 100 percent preventable with a timely vaccine , but it is nearly always fatal if treatment does not begin before symptoms show, said Demetria Lindsay , acting health director for the Western Tidewater Health District.

Health officials said the vaccine is relatively painless: five office visits for six shots, usually all in the arm. It has been decades since the vaccine required 20 shots to the stomach, they said.

Vaccinated pets that have been exposed still should get a booster shot, Thompson said.

Health officials emphasize, though, that the best way to avoid rabies is to steer clear of wild animals.

When teaching children about rabies, Bennett tells them: “Wild animals are neat at 50 feet.”