Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 27, 1993                   TAG: 9310270218
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAT THAT BIT MAN WAS RABID

The Roanoke Health Department confirmed this week that the cat had rabies. The incident occurred Oct. 20 outside the Valley Metro garage at 1108 Campbell Ave. S.E.

Jimmie Minnix, spokesman with the Roanoke Health Department, said the man saw the cat lying in the road where it had been hit by a car. When he moved it to the side of the road, the cat bit him.

Animal control officers took the cat to a veterinarian's office, where it was destroyed. The state health lab in Abingdon tested brain tissue and confirmed Saturday the cat was rabid.

It was the third rabid animal found in the city this year, Minnix said. The others were a raccoon and a skunk.

"We know there are rabies in the city. We know there's more out there," he said. "You should never pick up a stray animal."

The man has begun the series of vaccine shots to prevent the disease, which is fatal.

Treatment requires six or seven shots, depending on a person's weight, over 28 days, said Adele Zmarzly, a communicable diseases nurse with the Health Department.

She also stressed the importance of not handling stray animals, which can transmit the disease either through bites or scratches.

Because of the confirmed cases of rabies in the area, experts predict it will be around for several more years, she said.

Rabies cases have risen in Southwest Virginia in recent years. An increasing number of rabid raccoons, skunks and foxes have been found. Several pet owners have had to destroy cats or dogs that had come into contact with the wild animals, which become more aggressive as the disease progresses.