[pyrnet] ALERT: Rabies Threat Has Health Officials Searching for Puppies

[PyrLove214@aol.com]

Sorry if this is not specifically related to this e-mail goup. 
This may be a repeat for some of you, and I apologize, but this is one alert
that should be crossposted as widely as possible.  
> Texas Department of Health
> NEWS  RELEASE
> July 7, 2000
>
> Rabies Threat Has Health Officials Searching for Puppies Given Away at
> Softball Tournament
>
> Texas Department of Health (TDH) and Denton County Health Department
> officials are trying to locate the owners of several puppies given away by
> two teen-age girls at a May 13 men's softball tournament in North Lake
Park
> in Denton after one of the puppies later developed rabies.
>
> Health officials are trying to locate the original and current owners of
the
> puppies to determine if the siblings of the rabid puppy are healthy and to
> alert the owners to the possibility of rabies.
>
> Authorities have been unable to determine how many softball teams were
> competing in the tournament or where the teams were from.
>
> Jan Buck, regional zoonosis control technician with the TDH regional
office
> in Arlington, said anyone with information about the puppies or the teams
> that competed in the tournament is asked to call TDH's zoonosis control
> program in Arlington at (817) 303-7117.
>
> "Because the incubation period for rabies varies, the puppy that had
rabies
> could have been exposed prior to the May 13 tournament, or it could have
> been exposed after being adopted," Buck said.   She said if the puppy was
> exposed before the tournament, then the other puppies and the puppies'
> mother may also have been exposed to rabies.
>
> The puppy tested positive for rabies after biting a woman in Tarrant
County
> on June 30.  The woman was pet-sitting for the dog's owner who lives in
Wise
> County.  Fifteen people exposed to the rabid puppy are taking
post-exposure
> rabies shots to prevent the development of rabies.
>
> The 4-month-old rabid puppy, thought to be a Labrador-collie-heeler mix,
was
> one of possibly nine puppies officials have been told were given away at
the
> tournament.
>
> Buck said 242 animal cases of rabies have been recorded in the TDH
region's
> 49-county area of north and north-central Texas since Jan. 1.  Only 90
cases
> of rabies were reported during all of 1999.