Los Angeles County may have its first raccoon rabies case in half a century after an ill animal turned up in a Westlake Village backyard.
A dog and four people from a nearby worksite were considered possible exposure cases.
Here's what to know
According to ABC7, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said the raccoon showed signs of illness, though it was not aggressive around people. Officials put the animal in quarantine while they waited for test results.
Public health officials said the people were receiving post-exposure prophylaxis, which is a time-sensitive series of vaccines. The Department of Public Health also said a dog may have been exposed, but the animal had a rabies vaccination.
A positive test would make the raccoon the first confirmed rabid raccoon in Los Angeles County in over five decades. County records show the last confirmed rabid raccoon was identified in 1973, and it carried the skunk variant of rabies, per ABC7. Officials said that strain has not been detected in the county since 1979.
The outlet reported that the county's last rabies case involving a non-bat animal came in 2014, when a skunk in Long Beach was found with the bat variant. In this case, health officials said a bat was the likely source.
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More background
ABC7 reported that Los Angeles County has confirmed a record-breaking 70 rabid bats this year.
What can be done?
The Department of Public Health reminded people not to handle wild animals and to keep their pets vaccinated.
Where can I learn more?
Similar concerns involving raccoons and other wild animals have cropped up in backyards and neighborhoods in other areas.
• In Québec, fast-spreading rabies risk is moving with raccoons into urban neighborhoods.
• In New Jersey, officials considered distributing rabies pellets after two daytime raccoon attacks.
• On one homeowner's porch, raccoons tried to walk inside during a close encounter.
• After one woman kept feeding wildlife, 100 raccoons surrounded her home in a chaotic scene.
• In South Carolina, health officials urged residents to seek medical attention after skunk exposure.
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