Brooklyniancommunity archive · read-onlyContact

MERGED TOPIC: Watch out! Rabid Kitties!/Rabies Alert !!!

nomad
nomad
edited November -1 in Brooklyn Pets
Luckily across the water in Staten Island. But watch out for them making their way across the Verrazano Bridge...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213289.stm

Comments

  • laura b
    laura b
    Run for your lives!

    But note the article states (correctly) that "it has been more than 50 years since any New Yorker contracted rabies."

    Also, the rabid-kitten-bite was last August, not November, so I'm not sure how accurate the rest of the piece is.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior

    Subject: Rabies alert!!

    New Yorkers given rabies warning
    By Matt Wells
    BBC News, New York

    A racoon
    Staten Island has many racoons, a species susceptible to rabies
    Health officials in New York are warning residents to stay away from stray animals over the holiday period.

    The advice follows a large increase in the reported number of rabies cases, including seven in December alone.

    The outbreak is centred on the borough of Staten Island, which lies off Manhattan, where 35 animals have tested positive for the virus during 2006.

    Rabies is highly infectious and usually passed on by a bite. In humans, it is almost always fatal if left untreated.

    The borough of Staten Island - which sits just off the southern shore of Manhattan - has a large population of racoons and other wild animals which are susceptible to the virus.

    But alarm bells really began to ring when a man was bitten in November by a rabid kitten which he had tried to rescue from the streets.

    He was successfully treated - in fact, it has been more than 50 years since any New Yorker contracted rabies.

    However, the spike in animal cases found during December has prompted the city health commissioner to issue a stark warning for people to stay away from strays, and to take their own pets to be vaccinated.

    The authorities hope that by footing the bill for the vaccination programme over the next six months, they will prevent the disease from spreading to other boroughs.

    There were no reports of rabies cases on Staten Island during 2005.

    One local politician has called for an emergency task force to be set up to try to track down the source of the current outbreak.
  • nomad
    nomad
    I spotted that and posted in the Pets Forum.

    http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32056

    Strange huh?
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    hehe sorry nomad, didn't see your post at all :(. i rarely vist the pets forum.

    yeah strange hehe. I'm a little behind on my news postings hehe.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    /gets his guns ready for the zombie army that usually follows rabies attacks!

    good thing I don't live next to a park right now :p.
  • lostingreenwoodhts
    lostingreenwoodhts
    50 years since any New Yorker contracted rabies
    That's right...50 years.

    Don't believe the hype. :evil: Worry more about your garbage and gardens.

    It's this type of misinformation that gets animals AND humans freeked out an d hurt. Believe me, we have our share in GWH. Stay away from them and they'll stay away from you. :)
  • lostingreenwoodhts
    lostingreenwoodhts
    Merged these two topics since they are on the same article. Good dialog, but please read my above post. Whole lotta hype.

    Related thread from November http://brooklynian.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=30896

Categories