Family Exposed to Rabies by Puppy

A Murray County family had to undergo post exposure rabies treatment after bringing home a puppy that has since tested positive for the disease.

The family, who lives just inside Chatsworth near Highway 76, had been given the puppy by residents of Cherry Log, GAa. in Gilmer County on July 3. The Gilmer County residents had owned the puppy, its littermate and its mother and father.

At the time the puppy was given to the Murray County family, no signs of rabies had been detected among any of these dogs. However, a few days after the family brought the puppy home to Murray County, it began exhibiting rabies symptoms, including biting one of the family members, and on July 15, it tested positive for the disease at the state lab. The Murray County family immediately began receiving rabies prevention treatment.

It was possible that the rabies virus was in the puppy's saliva before the symptoms appeared, therefore, the original owners in Gilmer County were contacted, as well, and there is a current investigation underway. The investigation includes testing to see which particular type of rabies virus variant was involved.

Of the animals that carry rabies, raccoons are the most common wild animals infected with rabies in the United States, and coincidently, a raccoon that later tested negative for rabies had attacked the dogs just days before the puppy was given to the Murray County family. However, these dogs were kept outdoors, so infection from another animal that did carry rabies was possible. Besides raccoons, other animals that frequently carry rabies are skunks, foxes, bats, and coyotes.

The adult dogs of the Cherry Log residents are current on their rabies vaccinations, so they only needed a booster shot and a 45-day at-home quarantine.

The littermate was given to a family in Johnson County, GA and that family has been contacted. Their puppy has not yet exhibited rabies symptoms; however, it is being monitored by that county's environmental health department under state mandated quarantine guidelines.

For more information about rabies and its prevention, call your local county Environmental Health Department (numbers are listed below.) General information about rabies can be found on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at www.cdc.org.