Rabies

Rabies

Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva or neural tissue (i.e., brain, spinal cord) of infected animals. Only mammals can get rabies. Once a person begins showing signs and symptoms of rabies, the disease is nearly always fatal. For that reason, immune globulin and rabies vaccine is recommended under certain circumstances to stop the rabies virus from infecting the body.

In 2021, of the calls and/or testing regarding exposures or bites, Ogle County Health Department reported: bat exposures account for 69%, domestic animals accounted for 26%, other wild species accounted for 5%. All the animals that were able to be sent for testing were negative.

In Illinois, almost all cases of animal rabies occur in bats; however, most bats do not carry rabies.

All animal bites are reportable to Ogle County Animal Control