DPH Supports World Rabies Day 2024: ‘Breaking Rabies Boundaries’

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Sept. 27, 2024

COLUMBIA, S.C. — In observance of World Rabies Day on Sept. 28, the South Carolina Department of Public Health (DPH) reminds South Carolinians of the steps they can take to protect people and pets against one of the world’s most fatal diseases.

World Rabies Day aims to raise awareness about rabies prevention and honor Louis Pasteur, the developer of the rabies vaccine.

This year, DPH continues to support the Global Alliance for Rabies Control’s goal to achieve zero human deaths from rabies worldwide by 2030 by promoting the theme, “Breaking Rabies Boundaries.”

Rabies is completely preventable in people when someone who has been exposed promptly receives medical treatment; however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports almost 70,000 human rabies deaths each year worldwide, primarily from dog exposures, meaning rabies accounts for one human death every seven minutes. More than 50% of these deaths occur in children under the age of 15. The last human death in South Carolina was in 2011 from exposure to a bat.

While any mammal can transmit rabies through bites, scratches and saliva exposures to open wounds or mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and mouth, the animals most commonly infected with the rabies virus in South Carolina are raccoons, bats, skunks and foxes. Cats and dogs are the most common domestic animals to transmit the virus.

Between 2019 and 2023, the South Carolina Public Health Lab reported 518 rabies positive animals, 92% of which were wild animals and 8% of which were domestic animals, such as cats, dogs and livestock. Rabies is often passed to pets and livestock through wild animal encounters, which is why vaccinating your pets is vital in protecting their health as well as the health of your friends and family.

South Carolinians can join the effort to eliminate rabies by ensuring their pets receive their rabies vaccines from a licensed veterinarian at a frequency to provide continuous protection of the pet.

“Keeping your pets current on their rabies vaccination is a responsibility that comes with owning an animal,” said Terri McCollister, DPH's Rabies Program director. “It is one of the easiest and most effective ways you can protect yourself, your family and pets from this fatal but preventable disease.”

Pet owners can contact their local veterinarian’s office or visit one of several low-cost rabies vaccine clinics currently available around the state. The South Carolina Rabies Control Act requires all pet owners to keep their dogs, cats and ferrets up to date on rabies vaccinations.

Anyone bitten or scratched by a wild, stray or unvaccinated animal needs to care for the wound properly and contact their health care provider. The health care provider is required to report the incident to DPH. If you do not seek medical treatment for the wound, you are required to contact your county office to report the incident by the end of the following business day.

Reports can easily be submitted to a DPH Public Health Rabies Program Office during normal business hours (M-F, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.). To report a bite or exposure on holidays or times outside of normal business hours, please call the DPH after-hours service number (888) 847-0902 (Select Option 2).

DPH also recommends that you protect yourself and others by leaving wildlife alone and not keeping wild animals as pets.  

“To reduce the risk of getting rabies, always give wild and stray animals their space,” said McCollister. “If you see an animal in need, avoid touching it and contact someone trained in handling animals such as your local animal control officer, wildlife control operator or a wildlife rehabilitator.”

To learn more about rabies prevention, visit rabiesalliance.org,  dph.sc.gov/rabies, or cdc.gov/rabies.

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