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USDA to airdrop millions of rabies vaccine doses over these states (spoiler: pretty much the US southeastern ones) (lemmy.world)
submitted 21 hours ago by anon6789@lemmy.world to c/animals@lemmy.world
42 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

ORV Bait types (top right to bottom left): blister pack, fishmeal-coated cube, fishmeal-coated sachet. (USDA)

From WDBJ7

As rabies remains a serious public health concern, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will be spreading millions of rabies vaccine doses in bait across the Southeast.

The annual program is aimed at stopping the spread of raccoon rabies by airdropping and spreading fishmeal-coated sachets of the vaccine to be consumed by wildlife.

During October, the following projects will distribute rabies vaccines to wildlife:

  • The Abingdon, Va., project will cover parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and a small portion of southern West Virginia, distributing more than 686,000 ORV baits by airplane, helicopter, and vehicle.

  • The Andrews, N.C., project will include areas in western North Carolina and north Georgia and will distribute approximately 415,000 ORV baits by airplane, helicopter and vehicle.

  • The Dalton, Ga., project will cover areas in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, distributing 648,000 ORV baits by airplane and helicopter.

  • The Gadsden, Ala., project will cover parts of northeast and central Alabama and distribute approximately 712,000 baits by airplane, helicopter, and vehicle.

If you encounter the rabies vaccine sachets, you should leave them undisturbed. They are safe for domestic dogs and cats. The USDA said dogs that eat multiple baits may experience a temporary upset stomach, but there are no long-term health risks.

FOX Carolina News asked why South Carolina, which also sees dozens of cases of raccoon rabies per year, is not included in the program.

A spokesperson for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service issued the following statement:

"Oral rabies vaccine zones are positioned in areas of states representing the westernmost extent of where raccoon rabies is present geographically. In the southeast, those boundaries are present in southeast VA, western NC, east TN, northern GA and AL. The goal is to prevent westward spread of raccoon rabies by creating a continuous vaccine barrier that stays in front of rabies occurrence on the landscape that eventually will be moved further to the east as rabies is locally and regionally eliminated. The program is very close to establishing an ORV area in South Carolina counties bordering North Carolina and Georgia in the next few years. However, raccoon rabies is present throughout the state of SC and other nearby states and the program does not 'spot treat' local areas of outbreak that are not part of the continuous barrier

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 11 minutes ago* (last edited 9 minutes ago)

raccoons and skunks are the most common spreads of rabies after BATS, dogs and cats arnt even close to these. since its impossible to vaccinate insectivorious bats, because they fly.

[–] poplargrove@lemmy.world 2 points 40 minutes ago

Have they started yet? Curious what they taste like.

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 46 minutes ago

Rabioli

[–] UninvestedCuriosity@lemmy.world 1 points 57 minutes ago

That's really cool. They should let people mail in for a handful that they can toss around their neighbourhoods in key places and really crowd source this or let local libraries distribute them as well to people. There's a few places I know they would absolutely have some proliferation into the wildlife populations around me.

[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 10 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Isn't that socialism?

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

I've never met a capitalist raccoon... 😜

Besides, the door is always open for grift in this admin!

Make what you will about this press release about how the manufacturer is excited to be working with the president and TrumpRx.

(/s... maybe... difficult to tell these days)

This program at least is inarguably a good thing. Behind the scenes, who knows?

[–] mrmisses@lemmy.world 43 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

So vaccines work? Someone tell rfk

[–] altphoto@lemmy.today 25 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

He's busy collecting all the racoon dicks for later.

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 9 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Hopefully the non vaccinated ones.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

I would enjoy that irony.

He cut federal funding for providing rabies control resources to states, using the flawed logic of a small number of deaths means we don't need to provide so many resources. Of course, this is solely because we spend so much effort on controlling things, as this is a horrible and fatal disease.

The U.S. rabies death rate indeed may be low, with only 89 rabies-related deaths since 1990. But rabies-related interactions with the U.S. healthcare system in general, and with the CDC in particular, are anything but rare, cautioned Ryan Wallace, DVM, of the CDC's National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases.

"I really want to emphasize that rabies is a daily threat here in the United States and a daily challenge for our public health departments," Wallace said.

Annually, an estimated 1.3 million people in the U.S. seek medical care for an animal bite, according to the CDC, and about 100,000 of them (7%) get rabies PEP. There are an average of two rabies consultations daily in the roughly 3,000 health departments in the U.S., Wallace said, and the CDC receives seven rabies consultations every day. Overall, the nation's rabies prevention system costs about $7.2 billion per year to operate, he added. (Medpage)

I'm going to assume, with all his wildlife handling, that he is likely vaccinated himself, but I wouldn't cry if he won a Herman Cain Award.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 hour ago

He's probably accidentally inoculated himself by having eaten something that had eaten one of these baits

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I sorta wish insurance would cover it for the general public. When you read how bad it is and how bad it is if your bitten and have to get it in an emergency manner. The way I understand it the prophylatic type shot you do ahead of time is not a big deal and then if you get bit you just need a not to bad booster or something.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Tl;dr from my bigger reply to you about this, but for the sake of anyone reading here first:

Short effective life of vaccine, expensive for something that will likely not happen to most people, and even with a pre-exposure vaccine, you will still need post-exposure shots, it's not worth the hassle and expense for someone not regularly coming into contact with the disease or rabies vector animals. Plus current post-exposure shots aren't horrible like they used to be.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

i mena im not trying to argue. I just wish it was something you could choose to do without the monetary thing being part of it. I mean anyone reading about what happens in the unlikely event you get it might be like me in wanting it. also I believe it gives you more time to get the booster if you were like lost in the woods for a week.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

You're replying too fast to me! 😄

I like you, I know you're not being silly or argumentative or anything.

I just replied in the other comment thread, I wouldn't tell anyone not to get it if they feel it would be of benefit, but I also get why private insurance doesn't want to pay it. The potential for lack of medical access is why many travel advisories may recommend a pre-exposure shot as well. Some people claim their insurance covers it if they work with animals or travel to exotic destinations, but I've only heard of that from internet randos, not anyone I know from the clinic.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

yeah im pretty active today.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Good, people have been too quiet in my posts lately!

I'm surprised this topic caught on so well. I thought this would be more of a curiosity and people would move on, but I like when I stumble on something that really clicks with you all.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I think its growing pains. im actively blocking folks that post links (or screenshots) with no context precisely so I will not miss cool posts that have context.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

Nobody can ever say I don't supply context! 😇

[–] DarkSirrush@piefed.ca 3 points 15 hours ago

The biggest voices in antivax are ALL fully vaccinated.

Its funny how, as adults, they are upset about being vaccinated, because it was something done to them against their will as a child, and yet they fully support the current administration and want everyone to forget about the Epstein files.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

This is under Sec. of Agriculture Brooke Collins, who took over from acting secretary Joe Grogan (probably not a made up name.)

She has some agricultural background, but has also been in many made up sounding organizations and think tanks.

The wiki actually says some were hoping she would have been made head of Health and Human Services instead of RFK Jr. She was also possibly going to be White House chief of staff. Seems like they just kinda shove whomever wherever a lot of the time. The spoils systems appears to be alive and well...

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.social 3 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

But do they work when you're already infected? Pretty sure a significant part of MAGA has the rabies.

[–] StabbingSky@lemmy.zip 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

If you're fast enough, yes. But once you start showing symptoms, you're dead

[–] mrmisses@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago

We can only hope

[–] enchanted@lemmy.world 15 points 18 hours ago (4 children)

So rabies vaccines come as edibles now? Why does my dog still need an injection for it?

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 22 points 17 hours ago

Excellent question!

It mostly boils down to ORV being a newer product. Giving them a traditional shot (known as a parenteral vaccine) is backed up with greater history and that is what is accepted as effective rabies control in pets in every country. It's also cheaper to provide, and licensed providers are trained in its proper use. The effective rate is very high - 92.7% in this study comparing effectiveness of parenteral vs ORV vaccinations.

In that same study, ORV had an appropriate antibody producing response in 77.8% of the dogs evaluated. That's about 15% less effective, and without a 70% effectiveness, an area is not considered to be effectively covered, so that doesn't leave much of a margin of error. Given the study was done with many wild or free-roaming dogs, they also could not determine if all vaccine was fully consumed, or if the vaccine containing blister in the bait was fully punctured.

Successful oral vaccination is complex and requires a series of critical steps, including that the animal is attracted to the bait, the blister is punctured, and the vaccine has adequate contact time with the oral mucosa. Any breakdown in these steps can result in vaccination failure.

They also tested improperly stored vaccines against the oral vaccine, since they were looking at effectiveness in parts of the world where veterinary care was unaffordable or unfeasable, and the potentially weakened or expired vaccines could still be more effective, assuming the animals can be caught to inject.

So, we're not there yet with this being a proven or accepted method for pets, which are going to be around, and therefore biting, humans much more often than wild dogs or wildlife. But in cases where there are large numbers of wild domestic animals with no owners or owners with means to get them vaccinated, or with wildlife, ORV is almost 80% more effective than the nothing they'd otherwise receive.

[–] Delta_V@lemmy.world 8 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Maybe the rabiolis only work on raccoons?

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

rabiolis

You win my Lemmy Gold for the day! 🤣

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

my first though but for humans. like if I get bit can I just eat something instead of a bunch of legendary aweful injections.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly, that would be great for a pre-exposure vaccine for someone like me. I have to get a titer regularly anyway, which no one does on their pet, so the lower effectiveness isn't such the potential drawback as it is for them. (The cost would have to be lower to make it worth it though.) My shots were a series of 3 subcutaneous injections, the primary, a second 7 days later, and the third was 14 days after the second, then give it 4 weeks+ and get the titer. Didn't hurt, just felt like a really swollen bug bite.

Cost is a huge issue, though I think it's more a supply/demand thing for the human version than the vaccine in general, as there are endless free/low cost shot clinics for pets. Average price for humans is around $1200 USD for the series of 3. It also doesn't last very long. We need to get retested every 2 years and get a booster if we dip below the suggested antibody level. Being volunteers, we had access to some off-label, but effective access to the shots, making them $100 each for the 3-shot series I got and another $100 for the booster since the initial 3 didn't give me enough resistance.

Even at that steep discount, think about how often you feel you may be exposed to rabies, and ask yourself if you'd pay the original $300, and then an ongoing $100 maybe every 2 years or so... Keep in mind, if I get bit, I would still need to get post-exposure shots because I'm not crazy. Insurance should cover shots after a bite, but I'm on a high deductible plan, so I'll be paying for those too in all likelihood, should I need them.

Rabies also usually takes a few days to weeks (sometimes longer even) to travel through our nervous system, so you will often have (relatively!) ample time to get a post-exposure vaccine that is just as effective. So between the cost, low effective time, and typical lack of necessity for most people, it doesn't make sense for regular people to get vaccinated.

Here is a really good, simple, yet very elaborate article from CHOP about pre- and post-exposure vaccines. It should cover almost any questions you guys should have.

Also, to assuage the fear some may have based on getting post-exposure shots, it's no longer a huge series of painful injections.

An older rabies vaccine required up to 30 shots and was quite painful. It is no longer available. The current rabies vaccine requires only two to four shots (depending on previous vaccination status) following a potential exposure to the virus, and it is much less painful.

The CHOP article says the shots are in the shoulder, but I also have heard there are shots at the bite site, and this CDC article talks about a combo of one shot at the bite site, and up to 4 in the shoulder.

There's also one thing more I want to touch on since we're getting deep into this...

People get rabies from exposure to the saliva of an infected animal. Any mammal can get rabies, but the most commonly infected animals in the U.S. are raccoons, skunks, bats and foxes.

Rabies can be transmitted:

  • If a bite from an infected animal penetrates the skin
  • If an infected animal licks an open wound, cut or scratch
  • If the animal licks the mouth, nose or eyes of a person

Simply petting a rabid animal will not transmit rabies.

It's this last transmission risk (If the animal licks the mouth, nose or eyes of a person) I'd like to reinforce.

You can handle an animal to bring it to a rehab. But, (begin rant) this is one of the huge reasons we stress to handle them minimally and not to hold them unnecessarily, and for the love of all that is holy...do not let kids touch them! We have to euthanize any animal that may have potentially infected someone. If you have people touching it, holding it, etc, you are greatly going to put that animal at risk of being put down even if it is likely 100% healthy because the government mandates we protect the lives of ignorant humans over the animals.

If you think this ignorance is uncommon, you will be sadly let down. We have people that hold onto the animal for days, lets friends/family/kids play and take selfies with them cuz ooooo....wild animal! We have people eat/drink/smoke/dip/etc right after handling them. And we will tell you to go get rabies shots and we will have to euthanize that animal, baby, young, old, sick, healthy, whatever. Handle them the bare minimum, then wash your dang hands, and get that animal to a clinic pronto! (end rant)

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

see I feel if the prophylactic shot was available to everyone and covered I think the cost of the injections would go way down to were its not costing the system that much. Don't really need to titer if its just general prophylactic but the way I understand it then you would just need a booster if you got bit. Yeah though I could not swing the $300 certainly now and given how unoften could not even see it as a splurge when I have money. Curiously we get my dog titered because she has these bowel issues that are tied to allergy and basically almost anything sends her into a flare. she only gets a boost when the titer shows low.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

if the prophylactic shot was available to everyone and covered I think the cost of the injections would go way down

100% agree, it's not like it's new medicine.

The long term effectiveness is still a bit of a hassle. It'd be the same as with pets, where every 1-3 years, we'd have to get boosters. It's much more likely for someone's animal to get into contact with infected wildlife, especially if they get out of site and can't communicate potential exposures to us. We thankfully are aware when we're in contact with sketchy animals and can get ourselves to help. We'd still need to get our pets the shots, and they are our primary transmission vector, rather than the wildlife itself. And we'd still need the post-transmission vaccine, which is just an extra shot or 2 than someone pre-vaxxed would need.

I wouldn't tell anyone not to get it if they felt it would benefit them. Other than the money and the special travel, it was quick and almost fully painless. But we already pay out of pocket for our pets, removing almost all risk for normal people, and insurance already covers the post shots which will still save your life just as reliably, so I can see why they'd not want to cover both. It's probably an unfounded worry on their part too, as I don't think millions would be flocking to get it. Most normies don't want to be touching random bitey wild animals to begin with.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 13 hours ago

I view it a bit like tetnus. oh its been three years im do for a booster. of course many do not get tetanus until they step on a nail or such to.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

because your dog isn't a racoon.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

What if raccoon dog?

(technically a canid, but not a dog (Canis))

[–] Edges@lemmy.zip 22 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Glad to see programs like this. Rabies is a demon

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 9 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I've got my preventative shots already! 💉

I'll still get sick if I'm infected, but I shouldn't die. 🤞

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Me too. Got bit by a stray dog as a toddler.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Any residual werewolf powers?

[–] Malica@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 hours ago

Unfortunately no

[–] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Thank God RFK doesn't believe in vaccines, at least for people. Can you imagine millions of needle-tipped syringes filled with flu vaccine plummeting from the sky? Like confetti made of lawn darts.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

From the team that brought us "nuke the hurricane"... 🫣