Rabies outbreak along
Updated Wed. Jul. 18 2007 5:50 PM ET
Canadian Press
One phase of a ground operation to trap and kill raccoons and skunks was set to end Wednesday but conservation officers will resume the effort next month in the area along the southeastern border with
They will also drop more cookies laced with oral rabies vaccine around St-Armand, near the Quebec-Vermont border. Officers in
"It's really the first time we've had this kind of intense outbreak,'' Canac-Marquis said.
Wildlife officials have 700 new samples to analyze, but the ratio of animals infected has considerably improved, he said.
At the height of the outbreak, conservation officers found one-in-15 raccoons on the
"So far, the results we are getting is that we were quite successful in containing the outbreak,'' he said.
Rabies, which can be fatal if left untreated in humans, attacks the nervous system and is spread from animal to animal through saliva.
No humans have been infected in the latest outbreak, said Dr. Jocelyne Sauve, public health director for the affected region.
Thousands of traps have been set in the area 85 kilometres southeast of
The main objective is to create a barrier or eradicate the outbreak altogether so it doesn't enter more heavily populated areas, including
Canac-Marquis says the threat to the
It is believed the
Generally, once rabies is established in an area, it can be very hard to get rid off, said Dennis Slate, national rabies co-ordinator with the United States Department of Agriculture.
"When you're dealing with rabies, it's hard to say how long it will take,'' Slate said. "Right through the winter, we found rabid animals (in
The last reported case of human rabies in
So, what I'm hearing is that if you see a cookie on the ground in Quebec you can pick it up and eat it. And then you won't get The Rabies. Right?
Well, maybe that changes my travel plans.
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