The Florida Department of Health issued a 60-day rabies alert for Alachua County on Friday after a dog tested positive for the disease.
The department has urged anyone who has come in contact with the 30-pound, black-and-white bull terrier in the last three weeks to come forward immediately. The terrier lives at Gateway Farms tree farm, located at 22413 NW 227th Drive in High Springs.
The dog was reported positive for rabies on Jan. 30. Its owner, a nursery owner, did not vaccinate the dog, according to a press release from county health department.
“Having a domestic animal test positive for rabies is extremely rare,” said Anthony Dennis, the environmental health director for the health department. “But when it happens, we like to raise people’s awareness that this occurred, also kind of referencing the area.”
Centering on the affected property, the alert boundaries span north to the Santa Fe River, south to County Road 236, east to Northwest Old Bellamy Road and west to U.S. Highway 41, according to the department.
Paul Myers, administrator of the county health department, said if he finds another case within the 60-day time frame of the alert, he will issue a rabies quarantine, which restricts the movement of all animals in and out of the area.
“For the next 60 days it is really a heightened awareness, but we should always be cognizant that rabies is among us,” Myers said.
Dennis said it is extremely important to find anyone who might have been exposed. The department noticed workers for the tree farm are also employed elsewhere, so it has posted advisories for those other locations.
“We know with dogs, cats and horses what the incubation period is,” Dennis said. “And typically, when they have rabies, they can be spreading the virus for essentially five days, but we double the window to 10 days.”
“If a domestic animal gets exposed, we need to make sure that it is either put under quarantine, or it is euthanized and tested because we need to make sure that it does not develop rabies and then, you know, expose someone else, and then we’ve got a problem,” Dennis said.
The Florida Department of Health in Alachua County advises people who are concerned about exposure to rabies to seek medical attention and report it by contacting the department at 352-334-7930.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 2/9/2015 under the headline “One dog causes rabies alert for Alachua County"]
-The animal might appear agitated, biting or snapping at imaginary or real objects.
-The animal might appear drunk or wobbly, and has excessive drooling.
-The animal might appear partially paralyzed or disoriented.
All facts from the Humane Society of the United States’ website
