So tonight I got a call for a opossum that bit a person.

I showed up and shot the opossum for the homeowner who got bit. They wanted to take it to get tested for rabies and asked where to take it.

Now this is the first time I have ever dealt with a person being bit and I had no idea where they would have the animal tested.

Would seem that having a carcass tested for rabies would be cheaper than going through the rabies shots.

check with your local CDC (center for disease control)they should be able to help or point you in the right direction

In Florida we send everything through the local county board of health -start there.

Every state has it's own rules regarding how to handle that. For most as it is here in GA that is handled by the county animal control. In others it's the county health dept. Not to berate you but that SOP should have already been in place before hand.
BTW I hope you did not shoot it in the head as intact brain tissue is required for the antigen test. Also do not freeze the animal, put it on ice or in the fridge but no freezer.
I much prefer to advise my clients on how to proceed themselves with submitting an animal for testing. Otherwise it is I that is doing all the driving and relaying of information. To much opportunity for crossed wires. I would rather the client to deal directly with public health if needed as I ain't no doctor.

Any vets office can send it to Madison for them. They (the vet) will have to submit paper work and contact the County Health Dept. Animal making contact with a person, test is a free service in WI, shipping is not, but it is a minimal charge. They are going to want just the head not the entire carcass.

here i can take one to the health dept. or i case of a bite i can drive 45 mile to the usda office and get the testing fast tracked

http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/communicable/Rabies/DiagnosticTesting.htm

I would suggest the customer call his doctor immediately. Doctors aren't alway informed about rabies but it is the best place to start imo.

Nate, Agree with the folks talking about CDC which locally will be your county health dept.
Since Mike W. is in your state his handling of this is a good one to run with especially if
local vets will submit for you. Out here as long as you take it to a county health dept.
person they will ship for the homeowner or agent to get it to the lab for testing within the
state.

As already stated they are going to test part of the brain so they don't like this having
holes in it, they also don't want it frozen but this isn't an issue of diagnostics this is
an issue of thawing the animals head and waiting till you can get a piece of thawed brain to
put under the expensive microscope. So don't discard animals just because they have been shot
in the head, unless by chance the brain isn't present anymore (hows that for pc).

The other thing we find is there are a few qualifiers that health depts. will tend to ask.

If Bat Issue - was bat in a sleeping area within the home or in an area with a child less than
3 years old (sleeping you might not know bat landed on you bit you etc...young child means might
not speak up about the contact or that they again slept through it, so bat must be tested.

If Rodent Issue - Generally squirrels etc..aren't common vector species so the questions come out
like did bubba chase down and corner the squirrel who decided to take a bite out of bubbas hand,
or did the squirrel take a run at him while he was mowing the lawn and gnaw on his shin.

coyote, skunk, raccoon, opossum, fox - nearly always going to get a positive response from the health
dept. that they want to test it, especially if its a bite case like your referring to.

If I thought I was going to get lots of these calls in my area I'd line up something of a protocol that
you have confirmed with local county health and local veterinarians so you can have a clear statement
for your "clients" each time it occurs. Gives you that professional shine and will also help you keep
your liability issues down.

If Animal Control is active and you know them in your area again this protocol can help you save your time
and money as well by deferring to appropriate responsible party.

The last thing I'd say is that you will find some county health folks and doctors that are not even close to
being up to snuff on this or dismiss people when they call, or do not return calls, so I would build these
relationships so you know someone will be there for you when this happens, so you can keep rollin along.

just my .02 from my experience - guarantee on this one there will be lots of area specific issues which should
be expected.

hd

Nate, we take ours to the Wisconsin Humane Society on 4500 W. Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee. On an added note; if your opossum tests positive, it may be the first one to ever do so.

I've never been bitten by an opie. I figure when I can no longer out run an opossum, it's probably time for the retirement home!

paul - i sure like how you can always wrap some humor in with good information!

not the first paul had one in tn. test positive think it was last year

Warrior
Why can't you freeze the specimen? Freezing does not kill the Rabies virus but preserves it.

Freezing will rupture the brain cells and an INTACT brain is required. They will cut off micro thin slices to put under a scope.

BigBob,
Will you please provide a citation for that statement??

From CDC- http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/specific_groups/veterinarians/testing.html
Blue emphasis added.

I can find no trustworthy reference to "Freezing will rupture the brain cells---"

EDIT: Also see http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/diagnosis/direct_fluorescent_antibody.html

But....freezing ruptures all cells. Water in cells becomes ice and it expands...only certain reptiles and insects have immunity to that and nobody is sure why.

Ron Fry, I don't think you have to look an further than me and Salys to realise that cold weather can rupture brain cells!

Paul W,
High temperatures, high humidity, hot attics, tight crawlspaces with copperheads and rattlesnakes and spiders; beaver swamps with cottonmouths and alligators, don’t do much to preserve brain cells either!


I do agree that freezing is not recommended because it may delay testing due to the thaw time required. However, freezing does not preclude testing. Here is what “The Rabies Laboratory at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene (WSLH) (http://www.slh.wisc.edu/comdis/rabies.dot#RabiesAnimalTesting) has to say about the subject- “---Do not use dry ice or freeze the specimen prior to shipment; thawing a frozen specimen will delay testing.” I have submitted frozen specimens because the customer had killed the bat and thrown it out into the woods during the summer, a day or two earlier. I froze the specimens to delay further decomposition. It doesn’t take very long to thaw out a bat. I even had one of them come back “positive”.

mine happens to be (DHEC)department of health and environmental control

A Branford Suwanee County Florida Raccoon Bite Story

I relocated a few years back from a busy metro Sarasota Fl to sleepy North Florida (Yawn) and documented my first rabies suspect on a blog. Just blogging the rabies suspect coon has paid off on folks reading and calling us with rabies questions and critters in their attics.

A Rabies Suspect Raccoon



A family friend called crying she was on her way to pick up her husband who was at work sick and refused to get medical help even though bitten by a raccoon. She asked me to step in and get help if necessary.

http://gainesvillewildliferemoval.com/2011/02/a-branford-suwanee-county-florida-raccoon-bite-story/

lol