Rabies

By Terri Estes
Rabies is a deadly virus that is usually spread through an animal bite as the virus is in the saliva of the infected animal. Animals most likely to spread the disease are raccoons, coyotes, bats, skunks and dogs. Some of the signs and symptoms of rabies are confusion, unsteady gait, extreme salivation, unusual aggression and dilated pupils, or vacant stare.
Ancient Greeks named this disease Hydrophobia, which means “fear of water,” because they observed that infected animals seemed to have an aversion to water. Later studies showed that infected animals throats are paralyzed, and they cannot swallow the much-needed water. They most likely want to drink the water, but the disease causes intense, painful spasms when trying to swallow.
Once an animal or person becomes infected with rabies, there is no effective treatment. The disease is 100% deadly. Symptoms may not start for days or weeks, but once they do, death will occur within a few days. This is why, if you think you may have been exposed to a rabid animal, you must immediately get a series of shots to prevent the infection from taking hold.
So now that I have scared the bejesus out of you, here is the good news. No person has tested positive for rabies in New York since 1947, and the last dog to test positive in New York City was in 1954. In 2021, five people died from rabies in the U.S. They were all caused by bat bites and three of them occurred in a six-week period. None of these victims sought medical attention. The bad news is that there has been a surge of eight rabies cases in neighboring Nassau County since the summer. All of them were raccoons with the exception of two feral cats. The cats were found in Valley Stream and Cedarhurst (pretty close to Rockaway).
Let’s keep our guard up, and make sure all of our pets are vaccinated. Stay away from animals (and people) behaving strangely. If you do come in contact with any wildlife that appears to be sick or aggressive, report it to the health department and 911.