Press release
Depending on the weather, aerial and hand distribution of oral rabies vaccine baits will
take place in Western New York from August 15-August 17, 2023. Areas of New York
State are once again taking part in a nationally coordinated effort to halt the spread of
raccoon rabies in 16 states. Ongoing field evaluation of oral rabies vaccine (ORV)
called ONRAB will occur in Clinton, Essex counties in the Empire State as part of an
evaluation that also includes parts of northern Vermont and New Hampshire.
Additionally, evaluations will also occur in Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie,
Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, St.
Lawrence, and Wyoming counties. These sites were selected in part because of
ongoing collaborations with Quebec and Ontario, Canada in the fight against rabies to
protect human and animal health and reduce significant cost associated with living with
rabies across broad geographic areas.
“Rabies is a serious public health concern because if left untreated it is generally
fatal. Costs associated with detection, prevention and control of rabies conservatively
exceed $500 million annually. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, greater than 90 percent of reported rabies cases in the United States are in
wildlife,” stated Paul Pettit, Public Health Director of the Genesee and Orleans County
Health Departments (GO Health).
The cooperative USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services National Rabies Management Program (NRMP) was established in 1997 to prevent the further spread of wildlife rabies in the United States by containing and eventually eliminating the virus in terrestrial mammals. The majority of the NRMP efforts are
focused on controlling raccoon rabies, which continues to account for most of the
reported wildlife rabies cases in the U.S. Raccoon rabies occurs in all states east of the
established ORV zone that extends from Maine to northeastern Ohio to central
Alabama. Continued access to oral vaccine and bait options that are effective in all
target wildlife species remains critical to long-term success.
ORV was designed to test the safety and immunogenicity (provoke an immune
response in the body of a human or other animal) of the oral human adenovirus-rabies
glycoprotein recombinant vaccine ONRAB (Artemis Technologies Inc., an indirect,
wholly-owned subsidiary of Ceva Sante Animale S.A., Guelph, Ontario, Canada), which
has been successfully integrated into comprehensive rabies control programs that
resulted in elimination of raccoon rabies from Canada. Encouraging results from the
U.S. trial in West Virginia represented a major milestone that led to expanded
evaluations in 4 additional states (NH, NY, OH, and VT) in 2012-2021 and expansion
into 2 new states (PA and TN) in 2022. Data from these evaluations could lead to
licensing of this vaccine for broader, more aggressive management of raccoon rabies
by the NRMP and partners, with the goal of eliminating the variant of the rabies virus
that cycle in raccoons.
The ONRAB bait consists of a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) blister pack, containing the
vaccine. To make the baits attractive, the blister packs are coated with a sweet
attractant that includes vegetable-based fats, wax, icing sugar, vegetable oil, artificial
marshmallow flavor, and dark-green food-grade dye. Humans and pets cannot get
rabies from contact with the bait. However, people who encounter baits directly are
asked to leave the bait undisturbed. Should contact with bait occur, immediately rinse
the contact area with warm water and soap and contact your local health department at
585-344-2580 ext. 5555 for Genesee County or 585-589-3278 for Orleans
County.
Please do not attempt to remove a bait from your dog’s mouth. The bait will
not harm the dog. If you have additional questions related to the field evaluation in New
York, please contact the Wildlife Services office in Rensselaer, NY at (518) 477- 4837.
