Bollinger County issues rabies alert after infected dog, bat found

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has issued a rabies alert in Bollinger County after the positive identification of infected animals.

A bat and a domesticated dog in Bollinger County both tested positive for rabies, prompting the six-month alert.

Individuals who had been exposed to the infected dog are receiving precautionary preventative treatment for the disease.

The alert applies only to Bollinger County, but surrounding counties have taken note and are being more cautious.

"We're just being very watchful," Madison County Health Department's Becky Hunt said Monday.

Stoddard County Public Health director Debbie Pleimling said her office is taking care to stay abreast of the situation.

"We're aware of what Bollinger County is doing; I talked to them yesterday," she said Monday. "Fingers crossed it doesn't move down here, but we're aware, and we're on the lookout."

Vanessa Landers, communicable disease coordinator for Cape Girardeau County Public Health Department, said although they regularly receive animal submissions, there hasn't been a confirmed case of rabies in Cape Girardeau County for about a year.

"We encourage people to get those [animals] tested if they do find one, due to the possibility that it would test positive," she said.

Bollinger County Health Department administrator Juanita Welker urged residents to be vigilant against odd-acting or wild animals.

"Pet owners need to understand how close the threat of rabies is to their families," Welker said. "It's often as close as the skunk that walked through the backyard."

"Rabies is not just a problem in Bollinger County," Welker said. "It can be found in any county in Missouri. Over the past 10 years, Missouri has averaged about 50 rabid animals annually, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. This number includes only those animals tested because they either bit a person or someone's pet -- there were undoubtedly many more rabid animals that went undetected. Most of the animals found to be rabid during this time period were bats and skunks, but the total also includes cats, dogs, cattle, horses and one goat."

Landers also pointed out rabid animals are taken seriously by health departments, as the disease poses a grave threat to humans.

"Rabies are fatal in humans. There are very few people who have survived, and even those who are lucky enough to survive often have serious long-term effects," she said, adding some might even consider patients unlucky to have survived.

But cases in humans aren't common, and the risk of infection varies from person to person.

"It depends on that person's activities," she said. "If a person's in the woods and has exposure to wild animals, that's a problem."

A Missouri man contracted rabies from an untreated bite wound from an infected bat and later died in November 2008.

Domestic animals typically are vaccinated against rabies but not always. Landers encouraged pet owners to be responsible and diligent in vaccinating their pets.

"If you have animals, they need to be properly cared for. They need to be vaccinated," she said, "not just for other people's well-being, but for the owners' as well."

For more information on rabies in Bollinger County, call the Health Department at (573) 238-2817.

The Banner-Press contributed to this report.

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