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The press release below may be outdated and no longer applicatory, but is
listed here for your reference to help you better serve our community
along side Lewis County Public Health. Should you have any questions or
concerns about any of these releases, please contact us immediately.
NEWS RELEASE
December 5, 2008
For more information contact
Carol
Paluck, Interim Director and Supervising Public Health Nurse at 376-5453.
On December 5, 2008, Lewis County Public Health
Department was notified by the New York State Department of Health Rabies
Laboratory that a skunk, killed in the Town of Leyden, was diagnosed
positive for rabies. The skunk attacked a dog, owned by a Town of Leyden
couple. The dog did not have an up-to-date rabies vaccination and had to
be euthanized. No people were exposed to the skunk because the dog owners
received instructions for proper handling of the skunk from Public Health,
and the instructions were followed. Therefore no post-exposure treatment
for rabies is necessary for the couple.
When a pet is exposed to a rabid animal, and the
pet’s vaccination against rabies is not current, the pet must be
quarantined for 6 months or euthanized (put down).
Parents should instruct children to avoid wild
animals. Wild animals, which approach pets or people, may have rabies.
Rabies is a disease which can be passed from an
animal to another animal or to humans by a bite or scratch. The disease
is invariably fatal. The best way to prevent rabies in humans is to
vaccinate pets, because pets are more likely than people to come in
contact with wild animals. Vaccination against rabies is mandatory by
Lewis County and New York State law for dogs, cats and ferrets when they
are four months of age, one year later, and then every three years
thereafter.
County-sponsored rabies vaccination clinics are offered three times a year
in Lewis County in January, May and September. The date of the January
clinic is not yet established, but is typically on a Saturday in mid to
late January, at Countryside Veterinary Clinic in Lowville. The clinic
date and times will be announced soon. Please call Lewis County Public
Health at 376-5453 or visit our website at
www.lewiscountypublichealth.com for more information about the clinic
or about rabies.
