Zoonotic Diseases
Oral Rabies Vaccination
Since the mid-1970s, raccoon-strain rabies has spread along the entire East Coast of the United States. Raccoons are now a major reservoir of wildlife rabies from Florida to Maine and the virus has moved into Canada as well. Raccoons are infecting many domestic animals and putting people at risk from this still-deadly disease.
In 1996, raccoon-strain rabies began to move into northeast Ohio from Pennsylvania. Although there were only two cases of raccoon-strain rabies in Ohio that year, the disease quickly escalated in 1997 resulting in 62 raccoon-strain rabies cases confirmed in three northeast Ohio counties. The Ohio Department of Health, with the support of other state and federal agencies, implemented an ongoing program to immunize wild raccoons for rabies using an oral rabies vaccine (ORV). This program has significantly reduced animal cases and prevented the spread of raccoon rabies into the rest of Ohio. Beginning in 2001, neighboring states began to join the Ohio effort to control raccoon rabies. With support from the United States Department of Agriculture- Wildlife Services, this multi-state effort is now called he Appalachian Ridge ORV Barrier.
Oral Rabies Vaccination Program
Raccoon Rabies, Questions and Answers about ORV ( 1, 2 )
Ohio ORV Program Information
The next ORV Operation in Ohio will take place in Spring 2008.
Last Updated: 01/28/2008
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