1999 Rabies Annual Summary
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Director, Rabies Laboratory
Richard Raczkowski:
Asst. Director, Rabies Laboratory
518-869-4527
Please contact us (518-869-4527) for data tables and image maps in an alternate format.
- Introduction
- Specimens Tested
- Rabies in Wildlife
- Raccoon Rabies
- Rabies in Domestic Animals
- Bat Rabies
- 1999 Rabies Incidence Map (PDF 31k)
- 1999 Bat Rabies Map (GIF 19k)
- 1999 Raccoon Rabies Map (GIF 19k)
- Additional 1999 Rabies Data
Introduction
While New York again reported the largest number of animal rabies cases for any state in the nation, 1999 was the first year since 1990 that the state total was less than one thousand. The 929 laboratory confirmed cases were 167 (15.2%) fewer than the 1,096 recorded in 1998. The smaller number of rabid animals was almost entirely due to fewer reported rabid raccoons, as the 520 cases in that animal were 169 (24.5%) less than the 689 confirmed in 1998. Contrastingly, the number of rabid bats (118) was a record total for the second consecutive year. Rabies cases were once again widely distributed geographically in the state, with rabies in terrestrial mammals reported in 56, and bat rabies in 41, of the state's 62 counties. Only Hamilton County of the Adirondack Mountain region and the New York City burroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn had no confirmed cases of bat or terrestrial rabies for the year.
Specimens Tested
The New York State Department of Health received 9,423 animals for rabies examination during the year, which was 4.7% fewer than the 1998 total, but 4.5% greater than the average for the previous five-year period. The New York City Health Department rabies laboratory received 942 animals for examination, down from 1,015 in 1998, for a statewide total of 10,365 examinations for rabies in animals. Animal specimens for rabies examination were received from every New York State county. The Wadsworth Center rabies laboratory also examined samples from four human patients for the purpose of antemortem diagnosis of rabies (all rabies-negative).
The animals received for rabies examinations included representatives of 56 species. Domestic species comprised 33.6% (3,227) and wild species 66.4% (7,138) of all tested. Bat specimens, which included bats of seven of nine indigenous New York species, comprised the largest single category for the second consecutive year, with a total of 3,555 received. This was an increase of 414 (13.2%) from the 1998 total, and bats constituted 34.2% of all animals received for testing. The laboratories also examined 2,114 cats (20.4% of all animals tested), 1,710 raccoons (16.5%), 927 dogs (8.9%), 579 skunks (5.6%), 527 rodents and lagomorphs (5.1%), 272 foxes (2.6%), 152 cattle (1.5%), 449 other wild animals (4.3%), and 80 other domestic animals (0.7%). Among the animals received by the Wadsworth Center rabies laboratory for diagnosis, 22.4% had reportedly bitten one or more persons, 20.1% had some other non-bite human contact, 33.9% had contact with one or more domestic animals, and 33.4% were non-contact surveillance specimens.
Rabies in Wildlife
Rabid wildlife accounted for 95.0% (883) of the state's 929 total cases during the year. The rabid wildlife consisted of 520 raccoons (58.9% of all rabid wildlife), 187 skunks (21.2%), 118 bats (13.4%), 44 foxes (5.0%), 10 woodchucks (1.1%), a white-tailed deer, a bobcat, a coyote, and a bear. Overall, the rabies positivity rate was 12.4% among all wildlife received for examination. The rabid black bear was a 1.5 year old juvenile that had demonstrated a lack of fear of humans and entered a home in Marbletown, Ulster County, in early July. This was the first laboratory-confirmed rabid bear in this state. The rabies virus isolated from the brain of the bear was demonstrated by monoclonal antibody evaluation to be the variant responsible for raccoon rabies.
Rabies in Raccoons
The raccoon rabies outbreak spread into previously unaffected towns at its front in St. Lawrence County during 1999, in which this variant of rabies virus also appeared for the first time in raccoons across the St. Lawrence River in southern Ontario, Canada. The cyclic nature of raccoon rabies was evident in previously affected areas of the state, with a downward trend presently predominant: a decreased number of terrestrial rabies cases were recorded in 35 counties, an increased number in 13, and no change occurred in 8. Among all raccoons received for testing at the Wadsworth Center, 22.9% (293) had a reported contact with a human, 34.9% (446) contact with a dog, 6.0% (76) contact with a cat, and 42.4% were non-contact surveillance specimens. Among rabid raccoons, 14.8% (76) had a reported contact with a human, 47.6% (244) contact with a dog, 7.0% (36) contact with a cat, and 37.8% (194) were non-contact surveillance specimens. The rabies positivity rate was 30.4% among all raccoons tested, 25.9% among raccoons in contact with a human, 47.4% among raccoons in contact with a cat, and 54.7% among raccoons in contact with a dog. The rabies positivity rate among skunks received was 32.3%, and among foxes 16.2%. There were 38 rabid grey foxes during the year, widely distributed in 37 towns in 22 counties. The rabid grey foxes were again more commonly associated with successful aggressive behavior: while only 2.1% of rabid raccoons and 1.6% of rabid skunks actually bit a human, 50.0% of the rabid grey foxes bit one or more persons.
Rabies in Domestic Animals
Rabies infection was identified in 46 domestic animals, including 31 cats (67.4% of cases in domestic species), 8 cattle (17.4%), and 7 horses (15.2%). All of the rabid cats were infected with the variant of rabies virus associated with raccoon rabies. The 7 rabid horses matches the greatest annual number of cases in that species, first recorded in 1994. This was the second consecutive year in which there were no recognized cases of rabies in domestic dogs in the state, although 1,782 dogs were examined during the two-year period.
Rabies in Bats
The 3,495 bats examined at the Wadsworth Center included 2,352 big brown bats, comprising 67.3% of all bats tested, and 940 little brown bats (26.9%). Among all bats received, 17.4% (607) had potentially exposed a human, 26.4% (921) had contact with a cat, and 7.6% (267) had contact with a dog. A large proportion of the other bats received had been submitted because they were encountered in close proximity to a sleeping person or an unattended child. The 118 rabid bats included 102 big brown bats, (86.4% of all rabid bats), 9 little brown bats (7.6%), 4 eastern pipistrelles, 2 hoary bats, and one bat unidentifiable to species. Overall, the rabies positivity rate in bats in 1999 was 3.3%. This rate was not significantly different than the 1998 rate of 3.5%, or the 3.6% rate for the previous five-year period. Among the common house-dwelling species, the rabies positivity rate was 4.3% in big brown bats, and for little brown bats 1.0%. One of the rabid bats was a juvenile, 65 (55.1%) were female, 46 (39.0%) were male, and 6 (5.1%) were unidentifiable to gender. Although 83.9% of bat specimens and 77.1% of the rabid bats were received and tested from June to September, at least one rabid bat was detected in each month of 1999.
(New York City data provided by Dr. Igbal Poshni, Director, Virus Laboratory, New York City Department of Health)