HELENA, Mont. (NMB) – State and local public health officials are reminding Montanans to be aware of the risk for exposure to rabies this summer. A press release says that encounters between humans and wild animals often increase in the summer months because of the time spent outdoors.
Rabies is a fatal disease. The rabies virus is carried in the saliva of infected warm-blooded mammals and is usual transmitted to people and other animals through a bite. Human rabies deaths in the U.S. are rare and preventive treatment for rabies is nearly 100 percent successful.
Jen Miller with the Department of Public Heath and Human Services said, “Rabies can be prevented by avoiding physical contact with stray or wild animals and seeking preventive treatment if you think you have been exposed.”
In 2018, seventeen animals submitted for testing to the Montana Department of Livestock were positive for rabies. Human and animal exposures to bats and skunks are considered a high risk for rabies infection.
