VALLEY — The potential for encountering wildlife infected with rabies increases as the weather warms and animals become more active.

SLV Regional Epidemiologist Ginger Stringer says, “In the United States, wildlife species are more likely to be rabid than domestic animals. However, your pets and other animals can become infected if they are bitten by a rabid animal or exposed to a rabid bat. This ‘spillover’ of rabies increases the risk that humans will be exposed. Make sure to keep your pets currently vaccinated and avoid contact with wild animals to reduce your family's risk of rabies exposure.”

Since it is hard to know if livestock have been exposed to rabid animals, please discuss vaccination of horses, cattle, and other livestock with your veterinarian.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 177 animals in Colorado have tested positive for rabies virus from January 1 through May 24th of this year. Luckily, the San Luis Valley has not had any animals test positive for rabies yet. Local public health, law enforcement and veterinarians are working together in rabies surveillance efforts and animal testing.

Rabies is a viral disease that affects mammals and damages the nervous system causing swelling of the brain. Although all mammals are susceptible to rabies, bats and skunks are the most common species carrying the rabies virus in Colorado. Rabies virus is found in the saliva of infected animals and can be passed to humans and other animals. Early symptoms in people are similar to many other diseases, like fever and headache. As the disease progresses there may be confusion, partial paralysis, agitation, and other specific symptoms. Once these symptoms begin, death usually follows within days.

Your local public health department should be contacted immediately if there is possible human exposure to a bat, skunk, or other potentially rabid animal. Because bat bites can be very difficult to detect, public health should be contacted if a bat is found in the same room with an unattended child or pet, a sleeping person, or an incapacitated adult.

For more information about rabies, please call your local public health department or for online resources including: data tables, maps, prevention measures and reporting numbers in your area please visit the state health department’s rabies page at www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/rabies.