A fox attack on a woman in Lawrenceville earlier this month marked the seventh case of rabies in Gwinnett County this year.
Next door in Hall County, five cases have been reported. Henry County has recorded two of its own. And in Fulton County, a rabid coyote made headlines in March when it attacked a Roswell man out for a jog.
Every year like clockwork, warm weather brings a spike in the number of rabies cases. In response, officials across metro Atlanta once again are urging people to be on the lookout and to make sure their pets are vaccinated.
“We are going to have to accept it and be careful of it,” said Vince Farah, the rabies control officer in Henry County.
Despite the higher number of reported cases in the spring and summer months, rabies is a year-round disease, Farah said.
“It started in early spring this year, but I’ve had positive cases as early as February and as late as December before,” he said.
The increase in the summer months, he said, is a result more interaction between humans and wildlife.
“The weather’s nice, people are outside,” he said. “There’s a lot of construction too, which encroaches on their habitat and forces the animals on us.”
While a sizable number of the incidents this year have involved foxes, the rabies virus is primarily found in raccoons and bats.
“Rabies is endemic to Georgia, so it’s always at high circulation,” said Dr. Cherie Drenzek, the Georgia state epidemiologist. “You really don’t see it out west past Alabama.”
While the Georgia Department of Public Health often sees between 250 and 350 cases of rabies every year, Drenzek said there are likely hundreds of other cases in the wild that never get discovered.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture program to distribute an oral rabies vaccine to wild animals — through bait traps — has slowed the spread of the disease. But complete eradication of one of the oldest known viruses is virtually impossible, Drenzek said.
At the same time, among domesticated animals and humans, the disease is highly preventable.
The virus is spread by bites and saliva, and vaccines against it are usually effective.
“Even if a domesticated animal is directly exposed to the virus, there’s still little worry,” Drenzek said.
In the event of a bite, however, animals are still quarantined. Because of the virus’ long incubation process, unvaccinated animals are monitored for six months for signs of rabies. Vaccinated animals are monitored for 45 days.
In many cases, animals that begin to show signs of rabies don’t live long.
The clinical course of the disease is very short,” Drenzek said. “When an animal starts showing symptoms, they go downhill very rapidly and are usually dead in a matter of days.”
The virus targets the brain and results in one of two responses: “dumb rabies,” which is mostly paralysis, or “aggressive rabies,” where animals become confrontational, Drenzek said.
As far as humans exposed to the virus, Drenzek said, human rabies is rare.
“There has been a lot of work to prevent it,” she said. However, anyone bitten should still seek medical attention.
The best protection, Drenzek said, is prevention.
“Keep your pets and livestock vaccinated. People should stay away from the wildlife reservoirs,” she said. “Leave the wildlife alone.”
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