Massachusetts Wildlife Rabies Vaccination Project

The Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, United States Department of Agriculture/Wildlife Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is conducting a project to help control the spread of rabies in Massachusetts. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and USDA/Wildlife Services fund this project.

Raccoon rabies was first reported in Massachusetts in September 1992. Domestic animals are at risk for developing rabies when they are bitten by an infected wild animal. Every year many people in Massachusetts are exposed to rabies either through direct contact with infected wildlife, or by contact with domestic dogs and cats exposed to infected wildlife.

From 1994 to March 2004, this project created and maintained a barrier to keep Cape Cod free of rabies by vaccinating a large number of raccoons in towns surrounding the Cape Cod Canal. As of March 2004, the first rabies case was detected on Cape Cod beyond the canal, indicating a breach in the vaccine barrier, and rabies has since spread throughout the Cape. In cooperation with county, state and federal agencies, our new goal is to continue to vaccinate wildlife against this disease to reduce and then hopefully eliminate rabies on the Cape.

The baiting program will begin on the Cape today from Yarmouth through Provincetown starting in late October and will continue over the following 2 weeks.

• Raccoon Rabies Vaccination Project FAQ
• Raccoon Rabies Vaccination Project Poster

For more information, please contact:

1. Your town's Board of Health
2. Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine: Project Co-Directord Dr. Janet Martin (774) 230-2210, or Dr. Alison Robbins (617) 633-9082, or both at (508) 887-4761 (voicemail), or (508) 839-7918 (main). For media questions, please contact Tom Keppler at (508) 839-7910.
3. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health: For questions about human contact with bait, call MDPH: 1-888-658-2850, or 617-983-6800.

General rabies info at: http://www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/epii/rabies/rabies.htm