The third case of rabies in Orange County in 2018 has been confirmed by the North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health.

Orange County announced in a release that the case involved a raccoon and occurred near UNC’s Finley Golf Course. A Chapel Hill resident heard her dogs barking and went outside to find a sick baby raccoon in her yard. She placed the animal in a carrier and called Animal Control, who arrived and removed it for rabies testing.

The resident’s dogs were not exposed to the raccoon and did not have access to that part of the yard.

Because the resident handled the raccoon without gloves, officials have contacted her to evaluate her risk of rabies exposure and whether there is a need for the post-exposure prophylaxis that protects people from rabies. A decision about the post-exposure prophylaxis is based upon an assessment of all the factors involved in the situation.

Raccoons and bats are host species for rabies in our area, while other animals can contact rabies through spillover effect.

Orange County received nine positive cases in 2017 and six in 2016. Those are down significantly from a spike of 23 cases of rabies in the county in 2014.

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