вЂњNext, we want to march the oral rabies vaccine line back to the East Coast and eliminate terrestrial raccoon-variant rabies altogether.вЂќ ( Read more about how raccoons are spreading around the world.) Drive-by baitingДЄfter Linder distributes the vaccines to an army of trained local, state, and federal employees, the teams take to the streets to make sure the baits get to where raccoons can find them. вЂњThe first goal was to stop the north and westward spread of rabies, and thatвЂ™s been accomplished,вЂќ Linder says, as he loads several boxes of baits into the back of a car. But when eaten by enough raccoons, the baits create a herd immunity that gives the virus nowhere to go until, eventually, it fizzles out. To be clear, the baits donвЂ™t cure rabies in animals that are already infected. In 2019, the USDA and its partner agencies and organizations estimate they will distribute about 9.3 million raccoon rabies vaccine baits in a line roughly 25 miles wide that runs from Maine down to Alabama. Now, we have a 19th-century human experiment to thank for the rabies vaccine. has invested a lot of resources into making sure it stays that way.ДЄ bite from a rabid dog was once a death sentence. So far, however, itвЂ™s stayed confined to the eastern part of the country. They brought raccoon rabies north with them. In their book, Rabid: A Cultural History of the WorldвЂ™s Most Diabolical Virus, Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy write, вЂњBut starting in 1977, more than thirty-five hundred raccoons were were legally trapped in Florida and shipped to private hunting clubs in Virginia, where they were released as prospective game.вЂќ Raccoon rabies used to be confined to Florida and the Deep South prior to the 1970s. вЂњAnnual statistics indicate that raccoons are one of the number one species in which we see rabies cases every year,вЂќ says Jordona Kirby, field coordinator for the National Rabies Management Program. The rabies virus is still out there, hiding in AmericaвЂ™s wildlife. receives treatment after coming into contact with other variants of the rabies virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Still, every ten minutes, someone in the U.S. was able to eliminate the canine rabies variant in the late 1970s and again in the 2000s. However, through widespread pet vaccination campaigns, the U.S. And in much of the world, the canine variant of rabies remains a serious threat to human health, accounting for nearly 59,000 deaths each year. And while there are different kinds, or variants, that tend to attack a certain host animal, like raccoons, skunks, or bats, any rabies variant can infect any mammal.

Rabies is caused by a genus of bullet-shaped viruses known as Lyssavirus. The idea is that the fewer wild animals that have rabies, the less likely it is that people, pets, or livestock come into contact with the disease, which is 100 percent fatal if left untreated. The program costs about $28 million to run every year, but itвЂ™s estimated to save taxpayers $60 million in preventing the need for public health investigations, animal rabies tests, and access to post-exposure vaccines for humans. Called the National Rabies Management Program, itвЂ™s the largest coordinated effort to control a zoonotic disease in wildlife populations ever undertaken in the U.S. government has been distributing oral rabies vaccines targeted at raccoons since 1997 as part of a massive public and animal health initiative. вЂњInside, thereвЂ™s a sachet, like a little ketchup packet, and the idea is that when a raccoon bites through this, it punctures the packet and gets a liquid rabies vaccine in its mouth.вЂќ вЂњThatвЂ™s a fishmeal polymer block,вЂќ Linder says, explaining the odor. вЂњI donвЂ™t even smell it anymore,вЂќ says Linder, a wildlife biologist with United States Department of AgricultureвЂ™s Wildlife Services.ДЄfter hoisting himself up, Linder wriggles his hands into a pair of blue latex gloves, cuts into one of the stacks of cardboard boxes, and pulls out a plain brown block slightly larger than a miniature candy bar. PITTSBURGHOn a balmy morning in mid-August, Timothy Linder lifts the latch on a refrigerated trailer and opens both doors wide, releasing a wave of cold air heavy with the stink of fish guts.

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