The U.S. Department of Agriculture has begun its annual practice of scattering more than 3 million packets of oral rabies vaccines across nine states along the Appalachian Mountains chain.
The agency began distributing the packets by helicopter and airplanes from Maine to Alabama over a three-month period beginning this month, according to a news release.
Approximately 3.75 million packets, coated with a fishmeal attractant or encased in 1-inch fish meal cubes, will be distributed in nine states, ending when 1.1 million are dropped in Alabama in October.
The aim for the packet distribution is to keep raccoons from spreading rabies to states where the virus has not been found or is not widespread, field trial coordinator Jordona Kirby told The Associated Press.
During August, the Houlton, Maine, project will scatter approximately 348,000 vaccines across northern Maine, the USDA said in its release.
The Upshur, West Virginia, project will cover parts of western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and a small area in southwestern Virginia, according to the agency. Agents will distribute approximately 535,000 vaccines by airplane and vehicle.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies is a fatal but preventable viral disease. It can spread to people and pets if they are bitten or scratched by a rabid animal. In the U.S., rabies is mostly found in wild animals like bats, raccoons, skunks, and foxes.
The USDA will step up its distribution over the next few weeks.
The Cape Cod, Massachusetts project will distribute more than 70,000 vaccines to peninsular Massachusetts from mid-September through the middle of October.
In October, the Abingdon, Virginia, project will drop more than 800,000 vaccines across parts of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. A project orginating out of Dalton, Georgia, will cover parts of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, Approximately 820,000 vaccines will be dropped by airplanes and helicopters, the USDA said,
Also during October, the Gadsden, Alabama, project will cover parts of Alabama, including the Greater Birmingham area, and will distribute approximately 1.1 million baits by airplane, helicopter, and vehicle, the agency said.
The national rabies control program began in 1997 in Texas, where coyotes were spreading the canine variant of the virus, Kirby told the AP.
She said vaccine drops eliminated that variant in 2004. In 2007, the CDC declared the U.S. free of canine rabies.
A three-year program in Arizona and New Mexico eliminated a bat rabies strain in foxes, Kirby told the AP. In Texas, the USDA and state officials dropped 1.1 million baits along the Mexican border in January to keep coyotes from bringing the canine variant back into the U.S.