Press Release

Bernice Constantin	(352) 377-5556
Corey Slavitt	(301) 734-8563

USDA CONTINUES CAMPAIGN TO HALT THE SPREAD OF RACCOON RABIES IN FLORIDA

BARTOW, Fla., Feb. 17, 2005—The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced that Florida officials will distribute oral rabies vaccine baits along a defined area of the Interstate 4 corridor near Tampa.

This program will start Feb. 23. USDA, along with cooperators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state of Florida, is working to orally immunize raccoons against rabies in an effort to halt any further spread of the disease.

“More than 637,000 fishmeal baits containing the rabies vaccine will be distributed through this cooperative effort,” said Dennis Slate, APHIS national rabies management coordinator. “This project is designed to establish and bolster oral rabies vaccination barriers. Raccoons that eat the bait obtain a dose of the oral vaccine and become vaccinated against rabies.”

Low–flying aircraft will disperse the bulk of the bait. The remaining bait will be dispersed by hand and from helicopters in populated areas. Seven Florida locations will receive bait containing oral rabies vaccine for raccoons: Hernando, Hillsborough, Lake, Pasco, Polk, Sumter and Pinellas counties.

Other states working to establish a rabies-free barrier in the eastern United States include Alabama, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

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