2010 Saw Slight Increase In Rabies Cases

While 2010 saw more than 400 confirmed cases of rabies in Pennsylvania, that figure is not an epidemic number that should worry area residents, said a state official.

In her monthly e-mail to 500 veterinarians in nine counties, including Delaware County, Dr. Aliza Simeone wrote last month that there were 312 confirmed cases of rabies as of November 2010. She said that the e-mail was not a special alert to veterinarians about rabies and it contained other general information.

However, in the middle of a phone interview on Tuesday afternoon with the Haverford-Havertown Patch, Simeone, who is with the state's Department of Agriculture, said the new figures for 2010 came in and the number is 412.

Simeone said that the number of confirmed rabies cases in 2010 is actually a small number once "you think of the thousands of thousands of animals in the state."

There were 388 cases of rabies in 2009, Simeone said.

"The increase from 2009-10 is not a real increase—that is, statistically it is not different. So it is just normal minor fluctuation in the annual total," Simeone stated.

There were only eight confirmed rabies cases last year in Delaware County, she said.

"If more people vaccinated their pets, there would be fewer cases," Simeone advised.

Dr. James Thomas advised that people should not get near any wild animal and even cats that they may happen to see while outside. Simeone said that wild cats were the second most common animal to have rabies last year, with raccoons being number one.

However if someone is bitten by an animal, then that person should see his or her family doctor right away, said Thomas of the Eagle Veterinary Clinic, located on Eagle Road in Havertown.

But Thomas said that he has not seen a case of rabies in Haverford Township in years.

While it is state law to get pets vaccinated, Haverford Township offers a yearly clinic for township residents. Last year it cost pet owners $5 to get their pet vaccinated at the Oakmont Fire Company, said a woman who would not give out her name when she answered the phone at the township's Department of Public Health.

She said that the township has not yet determined when or where the clinic will be held this year or even how much it will cost pet owners to get their pets vaccinated.

For more information about rabies, please visit Pennsylvania's Department of Agriculture's webpage.