A scare in Gray: Pet had rabies

RABIES

HOW IT SPREADS, SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT:

RABIES IS AN INFECTIOUS viral disease that is spread through saliva and other bodily fluids. It affects the central nervous system and is most commonly found in skunks, raccoons, foxes and bats.

EARLY SYMPTOMS INCLUDE irritability, headache and fever. Eventually, the disease progresses to paralysis, throat-muscle spasms, convulsions and death.

TREATMENT FOR PEOPLE who have never had rabies immunizations is a series of six injections over the course of a month. The first injection is a dose of human rabies immune globulin followed by 5 doses of rabies vaccine, which is given in a muscle, usually in the upper arm. To work best, the series of injections should begin as soon after the bite or scratch as possible.

Source: www.cdc.gov

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A wolf-dog hybrid that died in Gray last week has tested positive for rabies, and state public health officials are trying to determine how many people had dangerous exposure to the animal.

The animal, which was part wolf and part husky mix, was tested after it died at its home Friday night, said Jim Stephenson, owner of Jordan Bay Animal Hospital in Raymond.

The owner brought the pet to Stephenson's clinic last Wednesday after removing it from another clinic where it had been treated for several days, he said.

The other animal hospital, which Stephenson refused to name, believed the animal had ingested unspecified toxins that cause neurological damage, he said. Stephenson's clinic found that it had Lyme disease, he said.

Stephenson said he realized there was a possibility of rabies after the animal died Friday. The test came back positive Monday, he said.

State health officials told the owner to get post-exposure treatment from an emergency room and to have a second wolf-dog hybrid destroyed and tested, Stephenson said.

Neither Stephenson nor state officials would disclose the names of the owner or the other veterinary clinic that treated the animal.

Kathleen F. Gensheimer, the state epidemiologist, said officials are now trying to figure out how many people may have been exposed to rabies and need treatment. People who have been bitten or who might have had saliva enter the body through a cut or abrasion are at risk.

Stephenson said he suspects that he and Heidi Lurvey, a college student who is working as a veterinary assistant at the clinic this summer, will need the series of vaccinations. He said they cannot be sure they had no cat scratches when they were working with the wolf-dog hybrid, and that Lurvey may have been exposed to blood while helping with a catheter in the animal's leg.

Their level of exposure would not be as serious as a bite, Stephenson said. "It's not a screaming emergency," he said.

Lurvey, 19, said she wasn't nervous about the situation and had learned about rabies in the past few days.

"I'm kind of still baffled by the fact it had rabies because we weren't really thinking it would," said Lurvey, an aspiring veterinarian who will be a junior at Northeastern University this fall. "When it came back positive, we were all shocked."

Wolf hybrids may be kept as pets in Maine, but state officials warn there are risks.

There is no rabies vaccine proven to be effective for wolf hybrids, Gensheimer said. The only licensed vaccines are for dogs, cats and ferrets.

"You might reconsider the advisability of having any animal as a pet for which there is no licensed vaccine," she said. "Think about what happens if that animal does become infected. You are stuck worrying about your family members and those outside your family and possibly the liability that goes along with that."

The wolf hybrid from Gray received the dog vaccine as a puppy but did not get the boosters for older dogs, Stephenson said.

It's not unusual for wolf hybrid owners to have the animals receive the dog vaccine, though it is not required by state law.

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