AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Thursday was World Rabies Day, and the impact of the virus hits close to home in the CSRA, where two counties on the Georgia side of the border are on the upper range of cases this year for the Peach State.

Columbia County has tied Banks County for No. 2 with seven cases this year, and McDuffie County is in a multi-way tie for No. 4 with five cases.

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Just this week, a rabid raccoon was reported discovered in Columbia County, on Yelton Farm Road in Appling. And on Sept. 20, a rabid racoon got in a fight with a dog in McDuffie County. The dog had to be euthanized.

While any mammal can transmit rabies, the animals most commonly infected in our region are raccoons, bats, skunks, foxes, cats and dogs.

In the CSRA, raccoons are the top carriers discovered this year, followed by skunks.

Since 2002, South Carolina has averaged approximately 148 positive cases in animals per year; there have been 66 cases so far this year.

Georgia sees about 200 cases a year, with 138 reported so far in 2023.

Although it’s rare for people to die of rabies in the U.S. – thanks to a vaccine that’s available once a person is exposed – the virus kills 59,000 people a year around the world.

It’s almost always fatal once symptoms start in humans. In fact, only 29 people in the world have ever been known to survive it.

World Rabies Day was started in 2007 to raise awareness about the world’s deadliest infectious disease and bring together partners to help prevent and control it.

What to do

Health officials recommend taking these steps:

• Make sure your dogs and cats are currently vaccinated against rabies.
• Do not let your pets roam free. They are more likely to have contact with a rabid wild animal.
• Avoid feeding your animals outside. This draws stray and wild animals to your doorstep.
• Teach your children not to approach wild animals and animals they don’t know.

By the numbers

Here are the county-by-county preliminary totals of rabies cases in Georgia so far this year:

• Baldwin, 1
• Banks, 7
• Barrow, 1
• Bartow, 1
• Bibb, 1
• Bulloch, 1
• Burke, 2
• Carroll, 2
• Chatham, 2
• Chattooga, 1
• Cherokee, 2
• Clarke, 2
• Cobb, 3
• Coffee, 1
• Columbia, 7
• Crawford, 1
• Crisp, 1
• Dekalb, 3
• Dougherty, 6
• Douglas, 1
• Evans, 1
• Floyd, 4
• Forsyth, 1
• Franklin, 4
• Fulton, 2
• Glascock, 1
• Glynn, 3
• Gordon, 2
• Gwinnett, 9
• Habersham, 3
• Hall, 5
• Harris, 1
• Hart, 4
• Henry, 3
• Houston, 1
• Jefferson, 1
• Jenkins, 1
• Lowndes, 1
• Lumpkin, 2
• Madison, 2
• McDuffie, 5
• Mitchell, 1
• Murray, 1
• Muscogee, 4
• Oconee, 1
• Paulding, 2
• Pickens, 1
• Pike, 2
• Pulaski, 1
• Rabun, 1
• Richmond, 2
• Rockdale, 3
• Schley, 1
• Tattnall, 1
• Thomas, 1
• Tift, 2
• Toombs, 2
• Troup, 1
• Upson, 1
• Walton, 2
• Wayne, 1
• Worth, 5

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