Illinois agriculture and health officials announced last week that a LaSalle County horse tested positive for rabies at the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDA) laboratory in Galesburg on Dec. 10, 2004. Eleven people received preventive rabies treatment following exposure to the horse on the small family farm at which it was stabled.

According to state public health veterinarian Connie Austin, DVM, MPH, the horse, which was less than two years old, began showing clinical signs of illness on Dec. 4 and was euthanized on Dec. 9 after its condition deteriorated. Results from the state laboratory indicated rabies, and brain samples were sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where the virus infecting the horse was identified as a skunk strain of rabies. “It was important to us to find out whether it was the bat strain or the skunk strain, since the skunk strain can result in epidemics in the skunk population which can spill over into other animals.” said Austin. Any wild animal, like a raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote, or bat, can have rabies and transmit it to people. Currently, bats are the primary mammal positive for rabies in Illinois