Abstract
In New York State, domestic animals are no longer considered rabies vector species, but given their ubiquity with humans, rabies cases in dogs and cats often result in multiple individuals requiring post-exposure prophylaxis. For over a decade, the New York State rabies laboratory has variant-typed these domestic animals to aid in epidemiological investigations, determine exposures, and generate demographic data. We produced a data set that outlined vaccination status, ownership, and rabies results. Our data demonstrate that a large percentage of felines submitted for rabies testing were not vaccinated or did not have a current rabies vaccination, while canines were largely vaccinated. Despite massive vaccination campaigns, free clinics, and education, these companion animals still occasionally contract rabies. Barring translocation events, we note that rabies-positive cats and dogs in New York State have exclusively contracted a raccoon variant. While the United States has made tremendous strides in reducing its rabies burden, we hope these data will encourage responsible pet ownership including rabies vaccinations to reduce unnecessary animal mortality, long quarantines, and post-exposure prophylaxis in humans.
Highlights
Rabies is a fatal disease that affects the central nervous system with no effective treatment once clinical symptoms begin
Over the past 50 years, the United States has put forth significant efforts toward the eradication of canine rabies in animal and human populations
Upon arrival to the rabies laboratory, all histories are labeled using an interagency identification code, specimens are necropsied, and slides are processed based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations [26]
Summary
Rabies is a fatal disease that affects the central nervous system with no effective treatment once clinical symptoms begin. Over the past 50 years, the United States has put forth significant efforts toward the eradication of canine rabies in animal and human populations. The creation of animal vaccination protocols and the implementation of leash laws have reduced the number of animals infected with canine rabies from up to 10,000 cases per year to the last known case in 2004 [3]. Despite this advancement, rabies remains persistent in wildlife reservoirs (among raccoons, skunks, and foxes) in the United States and continues to be a serious public health risk. Human rabies cases, which once fluctuated between 30 to 50 infections yearly, have since decreased to approximately 3 deaths per year, and most were acquired either domestically from bats or overseas from dogs [4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]
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