Rabies Clinics Offered In Northwest Arkansas

LOCAL VETERINARIAN ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

— It is again time for the annual Washington County rabies clinics. Each year, local veterinarians, in cooperation with the Washington County Health Department, participate in educational vaccination clinics against rabies.

Rabies vaccinations will be offered at reduced prices at veterinary clinics and rural stops across Washington County and include a stop at 2:30 p.m. April 8 at the Dutch Mill Store and at 3:15 p.m. April 8 at the State Line Grocery in Evansville.

Rabies is caused by a virus that affects the nervous system (brain and spinal cord).

All warm-blooded animals, including humans, can get rabies.

In 2008, 121,000 animals were tested for rabies and 6,841 cases of rabies were confi rmed.

Wild animals accounted for 93 percent of reported cases with raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes the most common.

Seven percent of rabies was found in domestic animals with three to four times as many cases of rabies in cats versus dogs.

Rabies is nearly 100 percent fatal in all species. Animal control and vaccination programs were started in the 1940s, and because of this, rabies cases have decreased. However, from 2004 to 2008, there were multiple human deathsin Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas.

Vaccination is an economical protection against many costly and often fatal diseases. Some diseases have no cure. They can only be prevented through vaccination.

Due to the extensiverecord keeping required, it is a state law in Arkansas that all pets are vaccinated by a licensed veterinarian.

Call your veterinarian to have your pets vaccinated for not only rabies but distemper and parvo at reduced prices between April 3 and April 10.

Living, Pages 14 on 03/24/2010