- The Rogers County Health Department held a special clinic
Saturday [31 Dec 2005] to begin treating people identified as at risk for
contracting rabies after drinking raw milk from a rabid cow.
-
- Oklahoma State Department of Health officials announced
last week that people who drank raw, un-pasteurized milk or cream sold
by Swan Bros. Dairy in Claremore from 4-19 Dec 2005 may have been exposed.
-
- So far, 45 people have begun receiving a regimen of rabies
vaccinations, officials said.
-
- A Claremore resident and father took his 2 children to
the Rogers County Health Department before going to their grandmother's
house.
-
- A 15-year-old victim said she did not like having to
spend part of her Christmas Eve receiving shots, but that the injection
was not too painful. Her brother, a 13-year-old, said he was a little nervous
before receiving the shot, but said the experience was not as bad as he
thought it would be. The Health Department is normally not open, but 17
employees worked at Saturday's clinic.
-
- "The public health call goes out, and we respond,"
said Rick Garner, a registered nurse for the department's communicable
disease division. "We are here to make sure the public is safe."
By holding the Saturday [31 Dec 2005] clinic, the Health Department can
help the public receive the injections with the "least amount of stress
and inconvenience possible," Garner said.
-
- Most healthy people who drank the milk or cream are not
at risk for contracting rabies, Garner said. However, people with certain
medical conditions, including suppressed immune systems or oral sores,
should call the Health Department to determine whether post-exposure treatment
is needed.
-
- Families flowed into the Rogers County Health Department
on Saturday [31 Dec 2005] morning, and people continually called. Many
appeared concerned that recent dental work coupled with raw milk consumption
put them at risk for contracting the virus. Garner said each person who
contacts the department is evaluated either in person or via telephone
to determine his or her level of risk. The preventive shots range from
USD 2500 - 4000 for the course of treatment. The post exposure injections
can cause side effects, including redness, fever and fatigue, so shots
are given only to those who are at high risk for rabies.
-
- The Health Department is working with Swan Bros. Dairy
and its insurance company to explore the possibility of paying the bill
for the vaccinations, said Dr. Mike Crutcher, state health commissioner.
-
- One cow in the dairy's herd recently died from rabies,
the state Health Department confirmed on 20 Dec 2005. The dairy sells raw
milk at its Claremore farm, which began operating in 1923. Garner said
dairy owner Harley Swan Jr. has been very cooperative with the health department's
investigation. "The Swans have been very good people, and they are
trying to do the right thing," he said.
-
- Since the Health Department issued a public health alert
Wednesday [28 Dec 2005], more than 500 people have called the state's hot
line and the Rogers County Health Department for more information. Officials
said the call volume dramatically decreased Saturday [31 Dec 2005], but
not everyone who needs to be treated has started their regimen of shots.
Some plan to wait until after Christmas to begin treatment.
-
- Humans are usually exposed to rabies, a potentially fatal
viral infection that attacks the nervous system, when they are bitten by
infected animals such as bats, said Kim Rayno, an epidemiologist for the
Health Department. There have been no documented cases of human rabies
because of consumption of milk from a rabid animal, Rayno said. However,
because there is a chance for transmission, the Health Department decided
to issue a public health alert.
-
- The milk that may have been infected was not pasteurized.
Pasteurization, a heating-and-cooling treatment that kills organisms in
the milk, would have killed the rabies virus, Garner said. Un-pasteurized
milk can also contain _E. coli_ and salmonella.
-
- Milk sold at commercial stores and restaurants must be
pasteurized, and none of the possibly infected milk was used to make Swan
Bros. cheese, which is shipped across the country.
-
- Swan said Friday [30 Dec 2005] that the dairy produced
nearly 5000 gallons of milk from 4-19 Dec 2005. The infected cow's milk
was mixed with the milk of up to 70 other healthy cows, therefore diluting
any infected milk that could have been present. Additional tests are being
run to determine whether there was any of the virus in the milk. Before
this incident, Swan said, he did not vaccinate his herd for rabies, but
he will start doing so this week.
-
- For information on potential rabies exposure from un-pasteurized
Swan Bros. milk, call the State Health Department hotline at (405) 271-0980
or visit <http://www.health.state.ok.us/program/hpromo/news/rabies3.html>.
-
- Callers may page an epidemiologist during the holiday
weekend. Health Department officials said they will have staff on call
to answer messages left on the hotline.
-
- http://www.tulsaworld.com/News.asp
-
-
-
- 62 Now Treated For Rabies After
Drinking Raw Milk From Rabid Cow
-
- By Nicole Nascenzi
Tulsa World, Tulsa, Oklahoma
12-28-5
-
- More people are receiving treatment after possibly contracting
rabies from drinking the raw milk of a rabid cow, according to Oklahoma
State Department of Health officials.
-
- As of Tuesday [27 Dec 2005], 62 people had been treated,
up from 45 last week, officials said.
-
- The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
tested the brain matter from the dead cow and concluded, as the state did,
that the animal had rabies. Initial state tests of the cow's udder were
negative for rabies, but results from CDC udder tests will not be available
until next week [1st week January 2006], said Dr. Brett Cauthen, the state
epidemiologist.
-
- Health Department officials announced last week [4th
week December 2005] that people who drank raw, un-pasteurized milk or cream
sold by Swan Bros. Dairy in Claremore from 4-19 Dec 2005 may have been
exposed to the virus.
-
- The Rogers County Health Department held special clinics
Saturday and Monday [24 and 26 Dec 2005] to provide a preventive or prophylaxis
rabies regimen.
-
- Cauthen said calls to the state's information hotline
have decreased, but the department is still receiving some inquiries each
day from concerned milk drinkers. He said officials suspect the cow was
infected when it was bitten by a rabid skunk, and additional laboratory
tests will confirm what type of animal infected the dairy cow.
-
- The Swan Bros. operators did not vaccinate their dairy
herd, which would have prevented the infection, but they plan to vaccinate
their animals this week.
-
- The milk that may have been infected was not pasteurized.
Pasteurization, a heating-and-cooling treatment that kills organisms in
the milk, would have killed the rabies virus. Milk sold at commercial stores
and restaurants must be pasteurized, and none of the possibly infected
milk was used to make Swan Bros. cheese, which is shipped across the country.
-
- For information on potential rabies exposure from un-pasteurized
Swan Bros. milk, call the State Health Department hotline at (405) 271-0980.
-
- ____
-
- ProMed Mail
-
- Rabies, a _Lyssavirus_, normally affects the neurological
tissue. However, the virus is most often transmitted through saliva or
contact with oral or gastric mucosa (1). Additionally, rabies virus also
has been detected in the kidney, prostate, pancreas, and other tissues
and body fluids (2). In naturally occurring cases, the proven vehicle for
transmission is saliva and neural tissue.
-
- Anecdotal reports exist of rabies transmission by ingestion
of milk by a nursing lamb from its mother (1). However, in all of these
reports, a bite or mucous membrane exposure could not be ruled out. Transmission
of rabies virus in un-pasteurized milk is a theoretical possibility.
-
- The risk of contracting rabies through milk could be
better defined if samples of milk and mammary tissue were collected from
rabid livestock and assayed for the presence, viability, and infectivity
of rabies virus. Regardless of the amount of viable rabies virus that may
be shed in cow's milk, the theoretical risk for transmission of rabies
from this route can be eliminated if all dairy products are pasteurized
before consumption.
-
- Another source of exposure have included neural tissues,
such as a transplanted corneas, and laboratory aerosols. Recently, the
1st U.S. instance of human rabies transmission via solid organ transplantation
was documented in 3 recipients of a donor unsuspected of having rabies;
transmission via organ transplantation has also been documented in other
countries.
-
- The development of rabies generally takes 10 to 90 days
when the virus is transmitted through a bite.
-
- 1. Afshar A. A review of non-bite transmission of rabies
virus infection. British Veterinary Journal 1979;135:142-8. 2. Debbie JG,
Trimarchi CV. Pantropism of rabies virus in free-ranging rabid red fox
_Vulpes fulva_. J Wildl Dis 1970;6:500-6.
-
- A portion of this was extracted from the CDC, MMWR http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/professional/MMWRtext/
mmwr4811.htm
- . - Mod.TG
-
- Patricia A. Doyle, DVM, PhD- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural
Economics Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board at:
-
- http://www.clickitnews.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?
Cat=&Board=emergingdiseases
-
- Also my new website: http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
-
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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