Dog Adopted By Chesco Family Had Dangerous Variant Of Rabies: CDC

CHESTER COUNTY, PA — A rabid dog from Azerbaijan that arrived at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on June 10 before being adopted by a Pennsylvania family exposed 12 people and other canines to a rabies variant previously eradicated in the United States, public health officials announced last week.

The dog, a 6-month-old mixed-breed puppy, was among a group of 34 to come from an overseas rescue organization. After a Chester County family that received the puppy noticed it was acting strange, officials recommended euthanizing it. A later test revealed the animal was positive for a highly transmissible variant of canine rabies.

The incident marks the fourth rabid dog imported into the U.S. since 2015. According to the Associated Press, the three previous dogs were rescues that arrived with rabies vaccination certificates that were later found to be fraudulent.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control told reporters the dog was infected before it arrived in the U.S. Other animals in the shipment, which included one cat, were sent to Illinois, California, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Two dogs from the group are being quarantined in Lake County, Illinois by that state's Department of Public Health, while two others passed through the county to other states, public health officials said.

"Cases of dog rabies are extremely rare in the United States," said Larry Mackey, director of environmental health at the Lake County Health Department in Illinois. "However, it is important to remain vigilant and take necessary precautions with pets and wild animals you may encounter."

The specific variant the dog was infected with took decades to eradicate in the United States, according to experts.

The CDC already had plans to temporarily ban imported dogs from a list of over 100 countries next month that are considered to be at high risk for rabies infections. Azerbaijan is among them.

"It took us about 50 years of getting vaccination laws and brick-and-mortar veterinary infrastructure in place," Ryan Wallace, a veterinary medical officer with the U.S. Public Health Service, told the Washington Post. "Our vaccine coverage of dogs in the U.S. over about 50 years got very high, and we were able to push out that dog variant."

According to CDC data, the canine variant of rabies can transmit easily from dog to dog and is responsible for tens of thousands of human deaths each year, mainly in Africa and Asia.

While dogs in the United States are still sometimes exposed to a wildlife variant of rabies, the canine variant is much easier to spread and therefore deadlier to humans.

The CDC did not name the rescue organization involved.

Anyone who may have been exposed to rabies must get a series of shots to prevent the disease. There is no cure for rabies after the onset of symptoms, and the fatality rate is nearly 100 percent in patients once symptoms begin, according to the CDC.

Early symptoms of rabies include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing and a fear of water. Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms.

The CDC said in a statement the investigation is in the interest of public health, but will end up costing the federal government between $215,000 and $509,000 to investigate.