2007 Rabies Annual Summary

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There were 515 rabid animals diagnosed at the Wadsworth Center laboratory in 2007, representing 5.2% of all animals tested during the year. This total included 282 raccoons, which was 15.5 % of all raccoons examined during the year (positivity rate); 104 bats (2.4%); 75 skunks (23.5%); 17 cats (1.0%); 17 gray fox (51.5%); 8 red fox (11.3%); 6 woodchucks (5.6%); 2 horses (7.1%); 2 deer (1.6%); 1 dog (0.14%) and 1 fisher (20%).

In 26.4% of the animal rabies cases there was a reported human exposure, including 49 bites to humans and an additional 87other direct human contacts with saliva or nervous tissue from the laboratory-confirmed rabid animals. Most notable is the greater than 50% positivity rate found in submitted grey foxes, and among these rabid grey foxes, 33% had bitten one or more humans. This is in contrast to 2.4% of the 282 rabid raccoons and 8.6% of the 104 rabid bats that had bitten one or more humans in 2007. In 54% of the rabid animals there was reported exposure to a domestic animal. This figure certainly underscores the importance of pet vaccination and the prompt and proper management of animals with a potential rabies exposure.

The Wadsworth Center's rabies diagnostic laboratory tested 9730 animals in 2007. This was the fourth busiest year in the history of the lab and represented an increase of 712 specimens over the average annual specimen total for the previous ten year period.

The specimens included 7,189 wild animals (73.8 % of total) and 2,541 domestic animals (26.2%), with 57 species of animals represented. These included 4,345 bats (44.6% of all animals tested), 1820 raccoons (18.7%), 1,662 cats (17.1%), 715 dogs (7.3%), 373 other wild species (3.8%), 319 skunks (3.3%), 254 rodents and lagomorphs (2.6%), 107 fox (1.1%), 91 other domestic (0.93%) and 73 cattle (0.75%). In 35.4% of all animals tested there was either a bite to a human, or human contact with saliva or nervous tissue.

The 4,345 bats tested during 2007 ranks second in number only to the 4,564 bats examined in 2000. Of all submitted bats 2.4% were found to be infected with rabies virus. There were 2,958 big brown bats examined and 90 of those were positive for rabies for a 3.0 % positivity rate for that species. Rabies was detected in 8 of 888 little brown bats examined (0.9% positivity), none among 103 silver-haired bats, 3 of 61 red bats (4.9%), 1 of 125 unidentified (0.80 %), 2 of 159 hoary bats (1.30%), none among 46 northern long-eared bat and none among 5 eastern pipistrelle bats. The 90 rabid big brown bats accounted for 86.5% of the 104 rabid bats detected in New York State during the year.

During 2007 the rabies diagnostic laboratory at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene examined 789 specimens, including 305 raccoons, 245 cats, 89 dogs, 65 opossum, 49 bats, 21 skunks, 4 muskrats, 4 squirrels, 3 groundhogs, 1 guinea pig, 1 hamster, 1 ferret, and 1 rabbit. Among these animals 44 (5.6%) were positive for rabies, including 37 raccoons, 3 cats, 3 skunks and one groundhog.

The Wadsworth Center rabies laboratory tested 2,167 human sera for rabies virus neutralizing antibody. These tests generally are performed to determine the need for booster vaccinations for individuals wishing to maintain current rabies pre-exposure vaccination status. The laboratory also examined 1,389 raccoon sera for rabies antibody in support of wildlife oral rabies vaccination programs (ORV). The laboratory performed 132 virus-variant typing assays using a panel of monoclonal antibodies directed against the rabies virus nucleocapsid protein, to aid in the study of rabies epizootiology in the state.

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(New York City Health Department data provided by Dr. Maria Paz Carlos)