Public health response to a rabid dog in an animal shelter --- North Dakota and Minnesota, 2010.

On March 31, 2010, the North Dakota Department of Health (NDDoH) was notified by a local public health department that a stray dog found in rural Minnesota and housed during March 9-20 in a North Dakota animal shelter had been found to have rabies. NDDoH, along with the local public health department, the North Dakota Board of Animal Health (BOAH), the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, and the Minnesota Department of Health, immediately began an investigation to identify persons requiring rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) and to prevent further rabies transmission. This report summarizes the public health investigation, which used animal shelter records and public notification to identify possible human and animal contacts of the rabid dog. Among 32 persons who might have been exposed to the rabid dog at the shelter, 21 persons, including nine shelter employees and one volunteer, received PEP. In accordance with 2009 Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control guidance, the 25 dogs in the shelter with the rabid dog were euthanized. Among 25 other dogs without an up-to-date rabies vaccination that were adopted or claimed from the shelter and might have been exposed, 11 were euthanized, 13 were isolated for 6 months in their owners' homes, and one was unintentionally killed. No additional cases of rabies in dogs or humans had been identified as of December 2010. This event supports consideration of preexposure vaccination of animal shelter employees and highlights the continued importance of routine rabies vaccination of domestic animals.