KLINGERSTOWN - Parents in the Tri-Valley School District recently took the precaution of having their children treated for rabies.
Earlier this month, a cat that had wandered onto the school grounds at Mahantongo Elementary School died and was subsequently found to have rabies. School officials learned that about 27 students had come in contact with the animal.
A special meeting was held Dec. 18 with representatives from the state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to Superintendent Mark D. Snyder, sometime between Dec. 4 and 5, there was a gray, striped farm cat from an adjacent property that had been on school property in the area of the playground and several students had come in contact with the cat.
Dr. Amanda Beudoin, DVM, Ph.D, epidemic intelligence service officer for the CDC in Atlanta, serving a fellowship with the state Department of Health, assured parents that just because their children may have petted the cat, they would not be susceptible to contracting rabies.
"Even though a cat licks itself, a person would not contract rabies by just petting the animal," Beudoin said. "However, if that student had a cut or an open wound on their hand, then they should be treated with the rabies vaccines."
About 20 parents attended the meeting and most parents confirmed that they had their children treated as a precautionary measure. Rabies is a type of disease that becomes too late to treat when symptoms appear. The disease is usually fatal without treatment.
Mahantongo Elementary Nurse Paula Morgan was actually bitten by the cat and has been undergoing shots every few days since the incident.
"It was the cutest, friendliest cat," Morgan said. "I can certainly understand why the students would have approached it and been playing with it. It was very lovable. I was petting it and it bit me a little in a playful manner but it was enough to open the skin and so here I am getting the shots, too."
Morgan said she is so thankful that the owners of the cat actually penned it up when the school called to have the cat removed.
"Thank goodness they actually had the cat penned so it couldn't wander back to the school," Morgan said. "Imagine what the outcome could have been if they wouldn't have had the cat penned up. We possibly would have never known that it had rabies and that would have been detrimental to all the students and adults who were in contact with the animals. I'm just so grateful that they thought to do that and to contact the school immediately when the cat had died and was tested."
Some of the questions parents asked at the meeting included:
- Will the school's insurance cover the cost of these vaccines if our personal insurance won't?
According to Snyder, the parents are encouraged to fill out insurance forms with the district and he is working with the district's insurance to determine what will occur. According to one of the parents, the shots cost more than $7,000.
- Does the school have a policy in place concerning stray animals and how will this be avoided in the future?
"We are working on a policy right now," elementary Principal Gerald Anderson said. "If an animal comes on school property again, I don't care if the students know the name of the dog or cat, or know whose it is, the students will be brought indoors immediately and the animal will be removed.
Parents said they were concerned as some of them were being turned away from area hospital emergency rooms and some traveled as far as Danville and Lebanon because the local hospitals didn't have a large enough supply of the vaccine.
"Generally, hospitals will have enough vaccine on hand to treat a few cases," said Dr. Perianne Lurie, MD, MPH, FACPM, epidemologist, state Department of Health, Harrisburg office. "Since there was such a large number of cases coming at once, that's why they turned people away and asked them to go to other facilities."
Parents were told that if they still have concerns or need more information they should call the state Department of Health at 877-PA-HEALTH or visit the websites for the CDC at www.cdc.gov, the state Department of Health at www.health.state.pa.us or the state Department of Agriculture, www.agriculture.state.pa.us.