Rabies is always a concern. What precautions do you take?

[willcfish]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpUOkIwSekY
Keep your Hunting dog's safe as well as your family.
Our Animal Control Admin. told me only 10% of dogs and cats
in Webster County are vaccinated.
Here is some expert information I received.
Rabies is possible in all fur bearing mammals. And can be
contracted through touch as well a bites. A lick on an open wound
can result in contracting rabies. Racoon's, skunks
and Possum are the most frequent carriers. It is also deadly
and cannot be cured. The only possible treatment if given
within the first 24 hours is the vaccination. It isn't given
preemptively because it is given in a series of three shots per
day for ten days and they are given into the abdominal cavity.

[fly n fish]

You need to find yourself a new "expert".

[J Holden]

Possums, if anything, are one of the LEAST likely mammals to carry rabies because their body temp is too low. It is extremely rare for them to become infected.

A lot of rabies cases I've heard of come from bats. Also, the old "shots in the stomach" thing is wrong, modern rabies treatment is around 4 shots in the shoulder and bite area.

[Salty Gator]

Possums aren't mammals, they are marsupials.

[JIm Smith]

check it out possums are both mammals and marsupials

[tallykenjsbetterhalf]

Here's a link to the CDC protocol regarding the rabies vaccine schedule.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5902a1.htm

[onefishtwofish]

Some clarifications:

Rabies vaccine IS given to humans. Only humans with a high incidence of exposure (I was vaccinated years ago). If I am exposed, I have to go through a different protocol than someone that is onvaccinated. As was stated, the abdominal vaccines have not been used for decades.

THE SINGLE MOST EFFECTIVE PREVENTION OF RABIES IN HUMANS IS SOAP AND WATER! Immediate copious cleaning of a potentially dangerous bite wound by soap and water is statistically more important than vaccine (although you should do both).

Any mammal can be infected by rabies and can transmit it. ONLY Raccoons can be carriers for certain (ie, they can carry the live virus and not die from it). No rodent to human bite in the state of Florida has ever transmitted rabies, only a handful of positive rodents have been found(squirrels, rats). Opposums are low risk rabies transmitters. Most dangerous is raccoon, bat, fox. Skunks are now rare in Florida, but are potential transmitteras are otters, coyotes and others.

Rabies has been transmitted by fomites as well (aerosolized saliva), usually, if not all were cases of bats and spelunkers I believe.

Leon County has a high annual incidence of Rabies in wild animals.

For more information:

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/environment/ ... de2012.pdf

My name is on that document.

[GaryDroze]

Any time I start foaming at the mouth, my wife is advised to leave me outside and secure both the knob AND bolt locks on all doors to the house. Usually I'm just getting excited about going fishing, but one can't be too safe.

[willcfish]

I was in the original study group and given the shots over a period of a year. We didn't know if we were being given a placebo or not. I had a very high titer at the end and my brother in law had none. That was a long time ago (1970's) so it's probably all worn off.