Rabies: Rare but fatal disease

By Chanel S. Weaver, Public Affairs OfficeOctober 26, 2011

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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md., Oct. 25, 2011 -- Officials at the U.S. Army Public Health Command have been working aggressively to prevent additional cases of rabies in Army personnel following the death of a Soldier on Aug. 31. The Soldier contracted the disease while deployed to Afghanistan. This death was the first documented case of rabies in the DOD since 1967.

"The death of this Soldier is very tragic, and we are taking actions to ensure something like this does not happen again," said Lt. Col. Steven Cersovsky, director of epidemiology and disease surveillance at the USAPHC.

"Any Soldier, civilian or contractor who has been deployed to an area of the world where rabies is common could be at risk for developing rabies if exposed to a rabid animal," he emphasized. "It is critical that those with animal exposures, especially bites, receive immediate medical evaluation."

The USAPHC, in partnership with the U.S. Army Medical Command, the Department of Defense, other uniformed services and the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is working to expeditiously identify, evaluate and treat any service members, DOD civilians, retirees and contractors who may have been exposed to rabies while deployed.

Individuals who meet the following criteria are advised to report for a medical evaluation as soon as possible:

• Those who had a possible animal exposure that occurred after March 1, 2010. A possible animal exposure is a bite or contact with the saliva of warm-blooded animals such as dogs, cats, bats, foxes, skunks, raccoons and jackals.

• Those who had no medical evaluation or incomplete/undocumented evaluation or an incomplete series of rabies shots following an exposure incident. Individuals who are not 100 percent confident they received appropriate and completely documented care should be evaluated.

Although rabies is a fatal disease, it is preventable. It is also very rare in the United States, due to an active vaccination program for pets. The vast majority of rabies cases in the United States each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. In developing countries, however, the vast majority of human rabies cases are the result of bites from rabid dogs.

"The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death," said Cersovsky.

But death from rabies is not inevitable if a person receives proper medical care promptly after being bitten by a wild or stray animal.

"If medical treatment is obtained promptly following a rabies exposure, nearly all cases of rabies will be prevented," said Cersovsky. "But the best way to prevent rabies is to avoid contact with stray and wild animals."

Soldiers who deploy are educated about how to prevent the disease during routine pre-deployment medical threat briefings.

For more information on rabies and how to prevent the disease, visit:

U.S. Army Public Health Command, http://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/discond/aid/Pages/Rabies.aspx

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/rabies

Wounded Soldier and Family Hotline, 1-800-984-8523.

Related Links:

Third Army stresses importance of rabies prevention

Army seeks to ID, treat Soldiers exposed to rabies

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Rabies

Army.mil: Health News