Screen shot 2014-03-03 at 7.56.28 AMCanine Rabies in Boxer Mix Puppy from Minden/Gardnerville  ( Press Release from Mono Public Health)

Authorities have found 9 of the 10 puppies in a litter affected by rabies in Carson City, and at least 25 people faced potential exposure to the disease.

One of the puppies tested positive for rabies, according to Carson City Health and Human Services. That agency, in cooperation with other agencies, is looking for the 10th puppy and awaits tests being conducted at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The litter originated in the Minden/Gardnerville area, and the dog that tested positive is described as a boxer mix born in November [2013].

Dogs in the litter were sold or given away, according to a news release, and because there is a “lack of verified information as to where the origin of the rabies exposure occurred, CCHHS took precautionary measures by alerting the families that owned the littermates of their risk of rabies exposure.” Initially, 2 people were thought to have been exposed to the disease. Taylor Radtke, CCHHS public-information officer, said that number had grown to 25.

It is the 1st rabies case in the state in decades, according to CCHHS, which has cautioned that rabies is a life-threatening ailment and that people exposed should get post-exposure treatment.

CCHHS staffers urged anyone with information about the 10th puppy to contact the agency at  HYPERLINK “tel:775-887-2190” 775-887-2190. The agency says one puppy and an unvaccinated cat were exposed to the litter. Both were tested, and
neither has the disease. I suspect that neither survived the testing.

The pups would be around 15 weeks old at this time and would have been adopted for a month or longer. If there were multiple cases, they would have been exposed when with their mother, about which we are
provided with no information. If this is the 1st rabies outbreak in decades, it is important to determine the source, and this is helped by typing the virus. If it is a bat rabies virus, that might not be unexpected, but if it is canine or wildlife (fox, coyote, skunk, raccoon, take your choice), this would reflect a more serious
situation in how it reached this litter.

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