Three weeks after the Kentucky Department of Public Health announced a human death from rabies, the department has contacted more than 400 people who may have been in contact with the person who died.
Of those 400 people with possible exposure, public health officials recommended 26 receive post exposure prophylaxis, a series of rabies vaccines and a dose of rabies immune globulin, a Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokesperson told the Lantern Friday.
Post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP, is almost 100% effective at preventing rabies, Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s public health commissioner, has said.
The state announced the death and launched an investigation in late December. That death was the first confirmed case of rabies infection in a human being in Kentucky since 1996.
Now, the spokesperson said, “the public health investigation is largely complete” and “there is no ongoing public health threat to the public related to this investigation.”
It’s still unknown how the Northern Kentuckian got rabies.
“Laboratory testing results at (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) indicate that the individual was exposed to the rabies virus outside of the United States,” a cabinet spokesperson said.
Symptoms of rabies include confusion, agitation and coma. It typically spreads through blood or saliva of an infected animal. Once it takes hold in the human body, it is fatal.
Anyone who comes across a wild animal should avoid contact. Pets should also stay up to date on vaccinations for protection against rabies. Anyone who thinks they have been exposed to rabies should call their health care provider immediately.
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