D.C. health officials who went on a door-to-door search in Mount Pleasant yesterday looking for residents who came in contact with a rabid raccoon have sent two persons to the hospital for precautionary treatment.
About 10 D.C. Department of Health staffers began searching the 2500 block of 17th Street NW after learning that a group of children had lassoed a raccoon Tuesday night and were throwing rocks at the animal.
Health officials became concerned because healthy raccoons are typically too agile to be captured. “To get that close to a raccoon means that it is pretty sick,” said Dr. Walter L. Faggett, the department’s interim chief medical officer.
Peggy Keller, a department hygienist who was among the first to reach the neighborhood, refuted reports that the children, ages 5 to 18, had been dragging the animal on a leash. She said somebody had thrown a noose around the raccoon’s neck to pull it away from the rock throwers.
Health officials think nobody was infected but still requested that the children receive anti-rabies shots.
“So far, we have no reports of anybody getting bit or scratched,” Dr. Faggett said. “It’s probably low risk now.”
Officials would not release information about the persons sent for treatment, except that they were “young adults.” Investigators initially thought that 10 to 20 people were at risk, but reduced the estimate to two to six.
The raccoon was taken to health labs, killed and tested. Scientists determined Wednesday at about 4:20 p.m. that the 1-year-old male raccoon had rabies.
Ms. Keller and the team of health officials began the search of the Northwest neighborhood about 90 minutes later.
Rabies is transmitted from animals to humans by a virus that attacks the central nervous system. It causes convulsions, paralysis and death.
The virus is transmitted primarily by animal bites or scratches, though the virus can be contracted through an open wound as well. Dogs, cats and other pets can become infected.
The health team set up a small table in the neighborhood yesterday to hand out literature about rabies and administer anti-rabies shots to pets.
Persons who become infected with rabies but do not receive shots typically begin to feel sick in about 14 days, Dr. Faggett said.
A person at risk will be administered a shot as soon as possible. Four additional shots will be given over the next 28 days.
Dr. Vinod Mody, professor of medicine at Howard University Hospital, said potential victims should receive medical attention as quickly as possible and that people bitten in the face or upper extremities are especially at risk because the virus is introduced close to the brain.
The health team will continue searching for at-risk residents “until we are certain it is safe,” Dr. Faggett said.
Anybody with information about the raccoon incident should call the Health Department at 202/576-6664.
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