Posted on Fri, Aug. 06,04
Officials not taking any chances in sheep rabies case
By Mitch Mitchell
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The Texas Department of Health recommends that people whose families might have been exposed to a rabid sheep at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center give them a call, despite confusion about the test results.
The health department lab in Austin has tested and retested a brain sample from an infected sheep and each time gets positive results for rabies, said James Wright, a veterinarian with the Zoonosis Control Division in Arlington.
A different brain sample from the sheep that was sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Georgia tested negative, Wright said.
"For some reason, we are getting this inconsistency," Wright said. "But when dealing with a disease the magnitude of rabies, we don't feel that we have any choice but to proceed with our investigation and pursue the appropriate follow-up."
A Barbados sheep named Cybill was euthanized July 30 after showing symptoms of a neurological disease. On Wednesday, Fossil Rim Wildlife Center was notified by state health officials that lab tests showed that Cybill had rabies.
The Children's Animal Center where Cybill lived at the popular wildlife facility has been quarantined and closed to the public for 90 days. Fossil Rim is about 55 miles southwest of Fort Worth.
"The people we are really concerned about are children who fed the animal and got their hands sloppy wet, or, as some children do, kissed the animal, or were licked in the face," Wright said.
No people with symptoms have been found, Wright said.
People at risk for rabies exposure are those who:
• Visited the Children's Animal Center at Fossil Rim between July 10 and July 30.
• Came in contact with a Barbados sheep named Cybill, who was woolly, small and rusty brown with black lower legs and no horns.
• Got Cybill's saliva in their eyes, mouth or into any open cuts or wounds.
Rabies symptoms include a short period of mental depression, restlessness, headaches, fever, fatigue, nausea, sore throat or loss of appetite, according to the National Institutes of Health Web site.
For rabies-exposure information
Visitors to the children's center at Fossil Rim Wildlife Center from July 10 to July 30 who may have been exposed to a rabid sheep are urged to call the Texas Health Department's office in Arlington, (817) 264-4920. For information, go online to www.tdh.state.tx.us/zoonosis. For a photo of a Barbados sheep like Cybill, go to http://www.fossilrim.com/.
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