27 November 2023 , 14:11
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A stray kitten caused alarm after it was discovered with a strange and new form of rabies, leading to concern over the possible spread of the disease.
The cat called 'Stanley' was taken in by the Wahl family after a friend found him, but what should have been a happy new addition soon turned into a nightmare when the kitty began developing seizures and stopped eating. Stanley had a form of rabies more commonly found in racoons in the Appalachians, around 1,000 miles east of Nebraska.
The rabies signs were there, Stanley had one pupil larger than the other, but Madeline and Rich Wahl thought their new pet had a bad reaction to ringworm medication. An initial assessment by a vet put the symptoms down to other possible causes, but did raise some possibility of rabies.
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Stanley was the first cat to test positive for rabies in 20 years in the area (Madeline Wahl)Vet Sharon Mix said: "We haven't had rabies in forever." Stanley died a day after he visited the vets in in Omaha, Nebraska
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He bit and scratched up to 10 people and testing is now underway to determine if any of them were affected. If it is not contained then the disease has the potential to infect up to 7 million people in the US, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)
“It’s just something that can snowball very quickly,” said County Health Director Lindsay Huse. “The goal is to prevent this raccoon variant of rabies from establishing itself here in our area. This would cause a substantial impact if it happened and put many people in danger.”
Richard Chipman, the US Department of Agriculture's coordinator of the national rabies programme, said according to the Mail: "We've never had a nine-alarm fire like this."
Officials acted quickly to vaccinate animals in the area. In total, 753 raccoons, 41 skunks, four wild cats and a red fox were vaccinated. Another 18,000 vaccine packets were placed in a five-mile radius and work by enticing the animals to chew, coating their mouth and tonsils with the virus.
Head of the rabies epidemiology at the CDC, Ryan Wallace said: "If we can test [a total] of 500 animals over the next few months through this surveillance program and all are negative, then there is likely no spread in local wildlife. We won't know for sure until around February."
Symptoms of rabies
- Weakness or discomfort
- Headache
- Fever
- Discomfort or prickling at bite area
- Later symptoms, according to the CDC, include: cerebral dysfunction, anxiety, confusion, and agitation
- People may also experience delirium, abnormal behaviour, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water), and insomnia
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