Fresh from victories over rabies strains in the coyote and gray fox, Texas [launched] its annual aerial assault on one of the state’s top remaining carriers: skunks.
The state health department Wednesday [began] dropping 1.4 million doses of edible rabies vaccines over a 17-county area between Houston and Austin, where laboratories have consistently confirmed skunk cases. The area covered has been expanded since the strategy first was attempted on skunks in 2012.
“It makes sense to turn our attention to skunks since they’re now the most likely terrestrial animal in Texas to have rabies,” Dr. Laura Robinson, director of the Texas Department of State Health Services’ Oral Rabies Vaccination Program, said in a statement. “Every year, hundreds of animals are infected with the skunk strain of rabies, and there’s a risk they could spread the virus to livestock, pets or humans.”
Texas has more laboratory-confirmed cases of rabies in wildlife than any other state, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of confirmed cases in 2014 topped 1,000, though final data are not yet in. In 2013, the state confirmed 937 cases, including 432 in bats and 402 in skunks. The oral rabies vaccination program eliminated the coyote strain and virtually eliminated the gray fox strain.
A Texas map of the sites where rabies cases in all wildlife has been confirmed can be found here.
See here and here for the background. If you’re out in the countryside and you see some odd little plastic packets lying on the ground, please don’t touch them. They’re for the skunks. The program has been quite successful so far, so kudos to the DSHS for their work. If only we could vaccinate more people this easily.