A raccoon who attacked two pet dogs last week tested positive for rabies on Tuesday, according to health officials in New Jersey’s Middlesex County.
The county’s Office of Health Services said the dogs fought with the raccoon on Sept. 26 on their owner’s property in East Brunswick.
The animal was taken to the New Jersey Department of Health Laboratory for testing, and the results were positive for rabies.
The rabid animal didn’t come into close contact with humans, officials said, and the dogs’ owner took them to a veterinary clinic, where they had their rabies vaccinations boosted.
The incident is the fourth so far this year involving a rabid animal in Middlesex County and a second in East Brunswick, officials said.
Officials recommend residents keep their eyes peeled for any wild animals acting weird and report to them to the police. If encountered, avoiding eye contact may help prevent an attack, they said.
The rabies virus can be transmitted to all warm-blooded mammals, including humans, dogs, cats, etc., and is usually spread through the saliva of a rabid animal and transmitted by bite or through an open wound.
Bat and raccoon variants of the disease are commonly found in New Jersey. Animals most commonly infected in the United States, accounting for 95 percent of infections, include bats, foxes, cats, dogs, skunks, and groundhogs, according to health officials.
Human Cases of Rabies
Rabies in humans is rare, with just one to three cases diagnosed each year in the United States, most of which are from bats.
Between 2003 and 2013, there were 24 cases between the United States and Puerto Rico, with 71 percent of such acquired from bats, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.
Although rare, if infected the disease can result in death. The last reported death in New Jersey occurred in the fall of 1997, involving a Warren County man with a history of bats in his home.
Health officials said there was no report of him being bitten but his wife had witnessed the man carry bats out of their home using his bare hands and a cloth.
In 1971, a New Jersey man was bitten by a bat infected with rabies and died after refusing treatment, accounting for the state’s first of two reported deaths.
Most recently, a 65-year-old Minnesota resident died last week from rabies after being exposed to a bat two months prior, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. The case was the fourth-ever human infection in the state.