A Chicago dog under observation for biting an individual tested positive for rabies, the state’s first confirmed canine case in decades.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the dog bit an individual on December 11, and was held in accordance with state law.
Due to the dog’s behavior, it was euthanized on December 18, and tested positive for rabies on December 19 at a Chicago laboratory, officials said.
According to the IDPH, the dog was the first in the state to test positive for rabies since 1994, and is the first to test positive in Cook County since at least 1964.
The dog had been vaccinated for rabies in June after it was adopted as part of a litter of puppies transported from a Florida rescue to Chicago in May of this year, according to officials.
The dog had behavioral issues throughout its life, which became worse in December, including growling, snapping, increased barking and anxiety, according to the IDPH press release.
The dog had been vaccinated for rabies and rabies wasn’t initially suspected, but after the animal was euthanized it tested positive via direct fluorescent antibody testing last week.
It is currently being investigated what strain of rabies the dog had been infected with, according to officials. Bats are the lone known reservoir for animal rabies in the state, with the last skunk known to have tested positive for the illness in 1998 and the last raccoon to test positive for rabies in 1983.
Though the dog was vaccinated, it is possible the animal was exposed to a rabid animal prior to that vaccination. The typical incubation period for rabies in dogs is 20-to-60 days, but symptoms can develop up to a year after exposure.
CDPH and IDPH are evaluating people who were in contact with the dog to determine if rabies post-exposure treatment should be recommended.
Any dog that is up-to-date on rabies vaccinations and was in contact with the rabid dog at a doggy day care it was housed at should get a booster shot, and should be quarantined at home for 45 days.
Symptoms include restlessness, aggression, excessive slobbering, lethargy, weakness, hypersensitivity, and hydrophobia, according to IDPH.