Call animal control first if rabies is suspected

BRICK TOWNSHIP - A Brick Township woman and a Jersey Shore Animal Center animal control officer both received rabies shots after they were scratched by a rabid cat recently.

The woman had been feeding the adult feral cat, which was found in the area of Ashwood Drive, the Birchwood Park section of the township, said Patricia Wallace, executive director of the animal center. The animal center handles animal control for Brick Township.

Animal Control Officer Ashley Richard had already received initial rabies shots and was given a booster shot,Wallace said.

"Rabies in cats is not that common," Wallace said. "I don't want to scare people and I don't want to downplay it either."

Anyone who sees an animal they think may be ill should leave it alone and call the animal center between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. at (732) 920-1600.

The number of rabies cases in Ocean County is down slightly fromthe same time last year, said Daniel E. Regenye, assistant public health coordinator for the Ocean County Health Department.

The affected animals range primarily fromraccoons, skunks, bats, foxes and cats, he said.

Raccoons and skunks are nocturnal, so if they are seen out in daylight, something probably isn't right, Regenye said.

"If you see any animal acting strangely, if it looks sick, contact your animal control officers immediately," he said. "Don't try and do anything with it."

Symptoms include lethargy, partial paralysis and drooling.

"A raccoon in the daytime is always something you don't want to be in contact with," Regenye said.

A certain number of rabies cases is expected each year, he said.

"Rabies is endemic," Regenye said. "It's out there in the community. We expect to see rabies."

Regenye, his wife and baby daughter had their own experience with rabies two years ago. The family awoke to the sound of a bat fluttering through the bedroom in their Ocean Gate home.

"It's not a pleasant experience at 1 a.m. in the morning," he said.

The couple wasn't even sure they had been bitten, because a bat bite can be hard to detect. But they each had to go through a five-dose rabies shot regimen.

"But that was considered exposure for my wife, me and my daughter," Regenye said. "We have an old house. Somehow it must have found its way in. We never saw the bat again."

The county Health Department sends suspected cases of rabid animals to Trenton by courier for testing twice a week. But if the case is considered a likely exposure to rabies, the samples will be transported to Trenton immediately. Test results are usually available by the next day.

Rabies is a virus found in the saliva of an infected animal and can be transmitted by a bite, or possibly by contamination of an open cut. Left untreated, rabies attacks the nervous system and causes death, according to information provided by the state Department of Health and Senior Services.