Protect against Rabies

Monday, September 28, 2013 is World Rabies Day.  Rabies is a serious disease that affects the nervous system and can be fatal if left untreated.  By keeping your pets vaccinated against rabies, you are not only protecting them, but you are protecting yourself and your family too.  Show your pets how much you love them by honoring September 28^th and getting them vaccinated. The Foothills Animal Shelter offers rabies vaccinations for your dog or cat for only $15.  Vaccines can be given during an appointment, or the shelter offers walk-in hours on Tuesdays and Fridays from 3 to 4pm. Please visit their website or call 303-278-7575 for more information.  

The JCPH animal-borne disease program works to monitor and respond to disease threats in the county, as well as monitor any positive rabies tests from animals such as bats. It is important for everyone to take precautions against rabies exposure. While only a small percentage of bats are infected with rabies,  it is important to avoid close contact with them.  The public should contact their local animal control if they find a dead bat or if they find a bat behaving strangely. Animal control will determine whether the bat needs to be collected and tested.  Animal Control will collect specimens for rabies testing if there is a possibility that the bat had contact with people or their pets--particularly within the home or other enclosed buildings.

 Jefferson County Health officials advise that even what may seem as insignificant contact with a bat may still be sufficient to transmit the rabies virus. Rabies is spread most often through contact with bat saliva, as a result of bites or from exposure to cuts on the skin. In some instances, people may be unaware that they were bitten and may not see puncture wounds. 

Steps to Prevent Rabies:

• Residents are urged not to handle wild animals and to beware of any bats or skunks seen during day light hours. Bats that are active during the day (seen in places where bats are not usually seen, i.e. indoors, on the lawn) or any bat that is unable to fly should be considered possibly rabid and reported to the appropriate animal control agency.
• Pet owners should be sure their pets have current immunizations for rabies and keep their pets from roaming free. Vaccination is essential to protecting pets and preventing further spread of the disease.
• Wash any wound from an animal thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical attention immediately.
• Have all dead, sick, or captured bats/skunks tested for rabies if exposure to people or pets is suspected.
• Keep wild animals from entering homes, churches, schools, and other similar areas where they might contact people and pets. Seal up holes that might allow bats into your living quarters. Any openings larger than a quarter-inch by a half-inch should be caulked. Use window screens, chimney caps, and draft-guards beneath doors to attics, fill electrical and plumbing holes with stainless steel wool or caulking, and ensure that all doors to the outside close tightly.

Resources:

·         For more information or to report a suspicious animal, please contact your local Animal Control agency or Jefferson County Animal Control at 303-271-5070

·         For more information on rabies and prevention tips please visit our Animal-Borne Disease Rabies page, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Rabies page,  or call the JCPH Animal-Borne Disease Program at at 303-271-5700.

Love Your Pets? Protect against Rabies

September 28, 2013 is World Rabies Day. By keeping your pets vaccinated against rabies, you are not only protecting them, but you are protecting yourself and your family too. Show your pets how much you love them by honoring September 28th and getting them vaccinated.

The Foothills Animal Shelter offers rabies vaccinations for your dog or cat for only $15. Please visit their website or call 303-278-7575 for more information. The JCPH animal borne disease program works to monitor and respond to disease threats in the county. Please read our animal borne disease newsletter for up-to-date information and data.

Prevent Animal-Borne Diseases

Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) reminds residents that with summer and warm weather upon us, so is the risk of contracting certain animal-borne diseases. Rabies, West Nile Virus, Western Equine Encephalitis, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Bubonic Plague, Tularemia, and Colorado Tick Fever are all diseases that can be carried by various animals and insects (rodents, mosquitoes or ticks) and then transmitted to humans.

They are also more common during the summer when people tend to be outdoors more often and wild animals and insects are active. JCPH recommends everyone help control the presence of rodents and mosquitoes around their home; and, when heading outdoors, particularly to areas where wild animals and insects are active, wear insect repellant, appropriate clothing and protect your pets from fleas and ticks. Remember not to handle sick or dead animals or animal waste. A few precautions go a long way towards preventing animal-borne disease. To learn more about animal-borne diseases, please read our news release, brochure or visit our website.

Protect Your Pets

One of the best ways to show your pets how much you love them is to make sure they are protected from rabies. Rabies is an infectious viral disease that affects the nervous system in animals and humans. If you do not vaccinate your pets, you are putting your entire family at risk. It is also important to keep your pets on leashes when they are out in the community.

Rabies in wild animals is on the rise, especially in bats and skunks in the state of Colorado. These wild animals can infect your pets if they are not protected. The Foothills Animal Shelter provides low cost vaccinations as well as links to other vaccination clinics throughout the county. For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Kids Page on Rabies or read our JCPH Rabies brochure.

For questions, contact: dvolkel@jeffco.us, 303-271-5700

Spring Cleaning and Hantavirus

Spring season is often a time for cleaning, which is why Jefferson County Public Health reminds everyone that there are some important steps to take to protect against the respiratory disease, Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS). Hantavirus is carried by rodents, most commonly the deer mouse in Colorado. People can get HPS when they are exposed to infected rodents or their urine or droppings. Not all deer mice carry the virus and there is no way to tell if a mouse is infected, thus the best way to prevent HPS is to eliminate or minimize contact with rodents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hantavirus has a mortality rate of 38% and begins with symptoms of fatigue, fever and muscle aches especially in the large muscle groups—thighs, hips, back, and sometimes shoulders. These symptoms are universal and can begin anytime between 1 to 5 weeks of exposure. JCPH encourages everyone cleaning out garages, sheds, cabins, trailers and other places that have been ignored for most of winter, to keep their eyes open for any evidence that deer mice have been present and to take the necessary precautions.

Hantavirus can be stirred up in dust and breathed in by people. Sweeping up mouse droppings or wiping out areas where rodents have been present can stir the virus into the air where it can be inhaled.

Use the following steps to clean any areas you suspect have been contaminated:

• Use latex, rubber or vinyl gloves and thoroughly wet the areas with a bleach solution or household disinfectant. Spray the urine and droppings with a disinfectant or a mixture of bleach and water and let soak 5 minutes. The recommended concentration of bleach solution is 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.
• Once wet, contaminated materials can be taken up with damp towel and then mopped or sponged with bleach solution or household disinfectant. Contaminated gloves should be disinfected before taking them off. 
• After taking off the clean gloves, wash hands with soap and warm water. 

“These steps are especially important as vacuuming an area without first wetting it down can stir up dust and will not provide the necessary protection against Hantavirus,” said Dave Volkel, JCPH Zoonosis (animal-borne disease) program specialist.

The best way to prevent the risk of Hantavirus infection is to control the presence of rodents in and around the home. JCPH also advises that residents rodent proof their homes by plugging holes and entry points where mice can get inside; eliminating food sources for rodents; and removing abandoned vehicles and wood, brush and junk piles where rodents hide.

• Currently there is not an effective treatment for Hantavirus, so take precaution when cleaning this spring. For more information, please see our Hantavirus webpage or call the Zoonosis Program at 303-271-5700.
• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment questions and answers: Q & A

World Rabies Day is September 28, 2012

Everyone knows the importance of keeping our families healthy.  But, many of us don’t think about rabies when it comes to protecting the ones we love.  Recently, skunk rabies cases have been on the increase right here in Colorado.  Other animals like bats and foxes can also carry the virus. These unwanted intruders can get into your yard and on your property, putting you and your family at risk.  As of August 10, 2012, there have been 131 confirmed rabid wild animal cases in Colorado. The best way to keep your family and pets safe is to make sure all your pets have been immunized for rabies.   

 JCPH urges all pet owners to make sure their pets have current rabies shots and to keep their pets from roaming free.  Please report any incidents to the Jefferson County Animal Control office, call 303-271-5070 or email, Animal-Control@jeffco.us

• For more information on animal borne disease and prevention, call Jefferson County Public Health Zoonosis Program at 303-271-5730 or 303-271-5700.
• Information is also available on the Colorado Department of Health and Environment web site: www.cdphe.state.co.us or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at www.cdc.gov.

Get more information about World Rabies Day here.

Rabies

Rabies is an infectious viral disease that affects the nervous system of humans and other mammals. People get rabies from the bite of a rabies infected animal (rabid animal). Any wild mammal, such as raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote or bat can have rabies and transmit it to people through a bite. Bats are the most common carriers of rabies in Colorado and Jefferson County, however there has been an increase in skunks also reporting positive.

Rabies: Rabies can only be confirmed in a laboratory. Because of the deadly nature of rabies, JCPH strongly encourages citizens not to allow their pets to roam free and to keep their pet cats, dogs and ferrets current on their rabies vaccinations. Do not handle wild animals and keep them from entering your home by using screens or closing windows, doors and other openings. If you find a dead animal, use a shovel to place bat in plastic bag, tie knot in bag and dispose of bag in outdoor trash container.

Bites and Exposures: If bitten by a bat, skunk, dog, cat, raccoon or other mammal, wash the affected area thoroughly and seek medical advice immediately. Contact local animal control agency and notify them of location of animal so that the animal can undergo appropriate testing or quarantine.

For more information on Rabies and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

West Nile Virus and Western Equine Encephalitis (WEE)

These diseases are carried by mosquitoes and passed to humans through a mosquito bite.
Not all mosquitoes carry disease, the mosquitoes of greatest concern in Jefferson County are Culex (medium-sized mosquitoes) that feed primarily around dawn and dusk. These mosquitoes are monitored by JCPH’s integrated mosquito control program.

Symptoms: develop between 3 & 14 days after being bitten.

• Fever
• Headache
• Tiredness -lasting 2-7 days.

Most people who are infected with mosquito-borne viruses

do not become ill or have any symptoms.

In some cases:
The virus can cause a serious brain infection such as aseptic meningitis or encephalitis (inflammation of the brain and lining of the brain/spinal cord). These infections begin with:

• Sudden onset of high fever
• Headache
• May progress to stiff neck
• Disorientation
• Tremors
• Coma

Severe infections can result in permanent impairment or death.

There is no specific treatment for infection
with these viruses except supportive care.

Prevention:

• Mosquito proof your home and backyard.
• Wear appropriate clothing and insect repellent.
• Use insect repellent even in your own back yard.
• Eliminate any standing water weekly. Culex mosquitoes breed in almost any source of standing water, including old tires, flowerpots, tree holes, or any puddle. Mosquitoes lay up to 250 eggs at a time, which hatch in as few as 2-3 days.

For more information on West Nile Virus and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a rare disease caused by a bacterium, Rickettsia, and transmitted to humans through the bite of a tick. Ticks that carry the spotted fever organisms can infect humans at any time during the year.

Symptoms: "Flu-like"

Incubation Period - 3 to 14 days

• Sudden onset of high fever
• Headache
• Chills
• Muscle aches
• Rash - often appearing a few days later. Rash spreads rapidly over the entire body, may be seen on the palms and soles of the feet.

The illness can be treated with antibiotics, but can be fatal if treatment is delayed.

Prevention: When going into the mountains-

• Wear light-colored clothing
• Tuck trousers into the tops of socks and shirttails into trousers
• Apply a small amount of an insect repellent containing DEET on clothing
• Frequent "tick checks" should be performed every two to three hours especially in key areas: back, scalp and behind the ears.

Once embedded in the skin, a tick can be removed by using a pair of tweezers to grasp the tick and, gently, but firmly, pull backwards without crushing the tick or leaving the mouthparts in the skin. Avoid crushing tick between fingers as infection can occur if the bacteria enter the skin. Washing hands and applying an antiseptic to the bite after removal is advised. Ticks should always be removed carefully and as soon as possible to prevent disease transmission.

A tick must be attached for several hours for the disease to be spread.

For more information on Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

Colorado Tick Fever

Colorado Tick Fever is an illness caused by a virus carried by small mammals, such as ground squirrels, porcupines, chipmunks, and ticks. The virus can be transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected Rocky Mountain wood tick. Colorado Tick Fever is the most common tick-borne disease in Colorado, it is believed , however, that most cases go unrecognized.

Symptoms:

• Fever
• Headache
• Body aches
• Nausea and abdominal pain
• Lethargy

Symptoms usually last 4-5 days, followed by an apparent recovery, then a relapse with symptoms for 2-3 more days. Complete recovery can take 2 or 3 weeks.

The disease is not life threatening and infection results in life-long immunity.

For more information on Colorado Tick Fever and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a serious respiratory disease caused by a virus (hantavirus). which is carried by wild rodents, particularly deer mice. It is present in their droppings (feces), urine and saliva and when dried droppings or urine are stirred up in dust it can be breathed in by people. People then may get hantavirus when they breathe in the contaminated dust. Hantavirus has not been shown to infect other kinds of animals, such as dogs, cats, or farm animals.

The disease is not contagious and does not spread from human to human.

Symptoms:
Incubation Period - Varies, ranges from 1 to 6 weeks.

First symptoms include:

• Fever


• Headache


• Muscle pain


• Severe abdominal, joint and lower back pain


• Nausea and vomiting.


• A cough and shortness of breath usually develops 1 to 5 days after the onset of symptoms.


• Difficulty in breathing due to fluid build-up in the lungs. This can quickly progress to respiratory failure.

Prevention:

1. Control the presence of rodents in and around the home by sealing up rodent entry holes or gaps; trapping mice and rats.


2. Be careful not to create food sources for the rodents, i.e. putting away pet food.


3. Do not sweep or vacuum when cleaning vacated sheds, cabins or other enclosed areas, this can stir up dust. Use gloves to wet contaminated areas with a bleach solution or household disinfectant. Once wet, the area can be mopped or sponged.
   
4. Contaminated gloves should be disinfected before taking them off. Wash hands with soap & warm water.

For more information on Hantavirus and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

Tularemia

Tularemia is a bacterial disease associated with various animal species, especially rodents, rabbits, hares and beavers. People can get tularemia from many different sources: through the bite of an infected insect (usually a tick or deerfly), handling infected animal carcasses, consuming contaminated food or water, or by inhaling the bacteria. This disease can occur throughout the year; the peak times correspond with tick season (in spring and summer) and with the rabbit hunting season in early winter.

Tularemia is not spread from person to person.

Symptoms: Usually 3-5 days after exposure

• Sudden high fever


• Headaches


• Swollen lymph nodes


• Muscle and joint pain


• A sore or lesion at the site of infection.


• If the bacteria are ingested, a person may have a sore throat, abdominal pain, vomiting or diarrhea.

If any of these symptoms are noted after handling dead animals or swallowing untreated drinking water (as you find in a creek), contact your physician.

Tularemia is treatable with appropriate antibiotics.

Prevention:

• Do not handle sick or dead animals.


• Instruct children to leave wildlife alone.


• Wear rubber gloves when skinning or handling animals, especially rabbits.


• Thoroughly cook meat from wild game.


• Use protective clothing and insect repellents.


• Conduct frequent "tick checks".


• Avoid untreated drinking water.


• Use DEET or other tick repellant during the Colorado tick season. Ticks emerge in the mountains of Colorado in late March and are present throughout the summer with the peak season occurring in late May through early June.

For more information on preventing tularemia and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health.

Bubonic Plague

Bubonic Plague is a disease caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis and can be transmitted to humans by infected fleas or direct contact with infected animals. Plague is frequently detected in squirrels, prairie dogs, wood rats and chipmunks.

Symptoms:
Incubation Period - Usually 2-6 days.

Typical symptoms:

• Sudden onset of fever and chills


• Severe headache


• Muscle aches


• Nausea


• Vomiting


• A general feeling of illness.


• Possible Lymph node pain and swelling
  

Treatment with antibiotics is effective during the early stages of disease.

Prevention:
Restrict dog and cat contact with squirrels, rodents, rabbits, prairie dogs, and other small mammals. Maintain good flea control - use flea control products recommended by a veterinarian. Avoid contact with any species of wild rodents, especially sick or dead rodents.
If a suspicious dead animal is found, do not directly handle the animal. Use gloves and place in a plastic bag. If these reasonable precautions are taken, the probability of contracting plague is extremely low.

Rabies

Recently, skunk rabies has reemerged as a concern in Colorado and Jefferson County. Skunks may contract their own strain of rabies or serve as a “spillover” species for the raccoon variant. It's important to take proper precautions by calling your local animal control officer if you observe a sick, disoriented skunk.

Bats are the primary reservoirs of rabies in Colorado. Instances of rabies among other wild and domestic animals are rare. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, (CDPHE) the first reported cases of rabies occurred in Colorado in the following animals: dog (2003 - imported from Texas), cat (1985), raccoon (1963), fox (2005), skunk (2008 - see skunk surveillance protocol), and human (1931).

• For more information on rabies and other animal-borne diseases, visit our website at www.jeffco.us/health. Surveillance and other pertinent information is also available on the CDPHE web site: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/dc/zoonosis/rabies/index.html

• Some great information on wildlife by the Human Society - http://www.hsus.org/wildlife/a_closer_look_at_wildlife/