Second stray kitten tests positive for rabies virus
Exposed workers and residents undergoing treatment
BY JOHN DUNPHY
Staff Writer

Edison Township health officials are going door to door urging residents to make certain their pets are vaccinated and licensed, following the death of a second rabid kitten in less than a month.

A kitten was brought into the Edison Township Health Department Jan. 6 by a resident, who reportedly had been feeding the stray animal and said it wasn’t acting normal. The cat died Jan. 8, with tests the following day coming back positive for rabies, said township Health Officer John Grun.

This is the second incident of rabies found in kittens in less than a month in this specific area of Edison, according to Grun.

An animal control officer was severely scratched by another kitten last month that later tested positive for rabies. That kitten also died.

The animal control officer, several employees at the animal shelter that had been exposed, and the Taft Avenue resident that had been feeding the stray kitten have all since begun treatment for rabies exposure.

Three people on Vinal Avenue who had reportedly been exposed to the latest kitten have also been advised to seek medical treatment.

Grun said animal control is concentrating on the area between Route 27 south, Campbell Avenue, Gaskill Avenue and Knapp Avenue.

Health control officers and health inspectors were going to each house, delivering notices of the latest incident in that area and urging pet owners to get vaccinations and licenses for their animals.

“It’s a requirement anyway, but we’re making sure it gets done in that area now,” Grun said. “We’re seeing more rabid animals this year than in quite a while. We’re seeing more cats.”

Two hundred and forty-one cases of rabid animals were reported in New Jersey in 2005, with eight of those reported in Middlesex County.

Still, such numbers don’t hold a candle to 1994, when the reported cases of rabies in the state topped 1,000, said state public health veterinarian Faye Sorhage.

“For many years, we just had rabies in bats,” she said. “There were less than 50 cases a year in bats in the state.”

That all changed in 1989, when the first case of rabies was reported in raccoons. Sorhage said because raccoons are land animals, their ability to infect others was far greater than that of bats.

“All the raccoons in the state had no immunity, and it went through like wildfire,” she said.

The number of reported rabies cases has decreased as raccoons and other animals developed immunity to the disease. Of the eight documented cases of rabies in Middlesex County last year, only three were raccoons, said Sorhage.

Rabies is a disease caused by a virus that can affect the central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord – of any mammal, including humans.

If a person is exposed to rabies, which is usually contracted through the infected animal’s saliva, incubation of the disease can sometimes take as long as three months. Treatment for rabies is administered over several sessions over a month. If treated in time, those infected generally recover, she said.

“No one who has ever received this entire treatment after getting a bite from an animal has ever died,” Sorhage said.

Grun said the township was already in the process of trapping stray cats in the area and testing them for rabies.

“Strays are observed for 10 days,” he said. “We’ll know if they were infected, but the only way to tell if something is rabid is if it’s dead. The brain has to be extracted. Unfortunately, that’s the only way they can look at it at this point.”

Grun stressed that the health department would not be euthanizing any stray cats unless a need was presented.

“We’re not going to put them to sleep unless they show signs [of rabies] or there is human exposure involved,” he said.

There are a number of things people can do to protect themselves, Grun said.

Never touch a wild animal, even if it’s dead or injured; never feed a stray animal; do not make pets of wild animals or try to save baby animals, even if they appear abandoned; and educate children to stay away from strays, he said.

One of the most important things people can do is to have their pets vaccinated and get them licensed by the township, Grun said.

“Licenses ensure proper vaccination and also ensures your animal gets home,” he said. “They can’t talk if they get lost.”

Even during periods where rabies is less common, Grun said it’s never gone.

“It’s always out there,” he said. “People should always be concerned.”

For additional information or to report an animal that might be infected with rabies, please call the Edison Health Department at (732) 248-7273.