Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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September 6, 2010

Halt spread of rabies: Bait drops target raccoons

By GREG JORDAN Bluefield Daily Telegraph

GREEN VALLEY — Raccoons roaming the western sections of Mercer County recently received an unexpected treat from the sky that not only fed them, but helped guard them against a disease that threatens both them and the humans sharing the land with them.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began using aircraft to spread fish meal pellets that contain an oral vaccine against raccoon rabies. The program is part of an effort to halt the westward spread of raccoon rabies from the East Coast.

This program arrived at a time when Mercer County was seeing large numbers of confirmed rabies cases among raccoons and other animals. Since that time in 2009, the numbers have dropped. One confirmed case of a rabid raccoon was found in late August near the Princeton area, but there was no human exposure to the disease, said Melody Rickman, R.N., administrator for the Mercer County Health Department.

The latest round of spreading the oral vaccine was scheduled to conclude Friday. So far, the barrier created by the vaccine pellets appears to be working, said Christopher Cronson, wildlife biologist and state director for the USDA.

“The current vaccine that we have, if you’re looking at our primary goal of stopping the westward spread rabies, in Ohio and Kentucky, it has been effective,” Cronson said.

The density of raccoon populations is much higher in Midwestern states, and rabies is a density dependent disease, Cronson said.

“The fear is that it would spread like wildfire in those states,” he added.

 While the oral rabies vaccine’s primary purpose is to halt the disease’s westward spread, it does suppress rabies in places where the disease is already present, Cronson said.

“We’re still evaluating whether or not current vaccine can eradicate rabies, but it suppresses rabies. Basically, it minimizes the movement of the disease, and rabies (is cyclical),” he explained.

 For instance, large numbers of confirmed rabies seen in 2008 and 2009 was part of an upward spike in the disease, he said.

“What you saw was very normal, to see a spike for two or three years, then fall off — and I’m talking about an area with no control measures,” Cronson said.

Cronson then took time to address reports that there was a rabies epidemic in nearby Greenbrier County.

“It was reported that Greenbrier County is having a major epidemic. Keep in mind, we’re looking for it (rabies) in Greenbrier, and that makes a huge difference,” he said. “Even though Greenbrier has the highest number of rabies cases in the state, that does not necessarily represent the distribution of the disease.”

The USDA is preparing to test two new rabies vaccines next year in Greenbrier County, the southern end of Pocahontas County and the northern half of Monroe County. In order to determine the vaccines’ effectiveness, researchers need to know the prevalence of rabies in those areas before the vaccines are introduced.

“Whenever you test a new vaccine, you have to collect a baseline data of what’s already there so we can have a before and after comparison,” Cronson said.

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