\n Local health departments in North Carolina have evaluated hundreds of people for rabies after they interacted with baby goats that were part of a mobile petting zoo, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services.\n <\/p>\n
\n As of Wednesday, 284 people have been evaluated by local health departments, while others have consulted with a healthcare provider directly to assess their potential rabies risk.\n <\/p>\n
\n The goats were owned by Farm Adventures, based in Harmony, North Carolina. Between July 28 and August 27, local officials said in a statement<\/a>, the farm took the goats throughout the state and visited at least 10 locations, including a Masonic picnic, assisted living centers and a back-to-school bash, as well as private events.\n <\/p>\n \n The state health department recommended post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)<\/a> for 213 of the people who were evaluated.\n <\/p>\n \n If started promptly after exposure, PEP is considered 100% effective at preventing a fatal rabies infection.\n <\/p>\n \n About 100,000 people are treated with PEP each year in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>. It typically starts with wound care if there was a bite or scratch \u2014 rabies can also spread through contact with an animal\u2019s saliva \u2014 followed by human rabies immunoglobulin to help fight a potential infection until vaccines take effect. Four or five vaccine doses are given, based on the patient\u2019s weight.\n <\/p>\n \n In the past,<\/a> people exposed to rabies received up to 30 painful vaccine shots in the stomach. Today, adults can get the shots in the shoulder muscle, while children can get them in the thigh over the course of 14 days. Side effects are generally mild and may include a sore arm, a headache and an upset stomach.\n <\/p>\n \n Without prompt treatment, rabies is typically fatal. Symptoms, which can take up to two months to develop, may include headache, nausea and sore throat before progressing to hallucinations, delusions, disorientation, paralysis and coma.\n <\/p>\n \n At Jurney\u2019s Assisted Living Home in Statesville, Executive Director Chrissy Stein-Martin said eight residents are undergoing treatment after interacting with the goats. None refused PEP, she said, and the hospital and health departments have been \u201cgreat to work with.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey\u2019ve been asking good questions, seeing what they can do to help. In fact, the health department\u2019s coming here to do all the follow-up vaccines so we don\u2019t have to take the residents out. And the families have been very supportive,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n \n Going forward, Stein-Martin said, the facility will still welcome dog visitors but will no longer host farm animals. Alpacas from a local farm have regularly visited the facility, but when she learned that North Carolina requires rabies vaccines for only cats, dogs and ferrets \u2014 not farm animals, including goats \u2013 she decided \u201cthere\u2019s no reason to put everyone at risk.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Farm Adventures said in a statement that its \u201c4 precious baby goats\u201d that may have exposed people to rabies have been euthanized. Tests detected the virus in three of the goats. The farm said it is monitoring its other animals, but none has become sick.\n <\/p>\n \n The baby goats had been kept in a separate pen because they were too young to get vaccinated, according to the farm\u2019s owner, Misty Love, who told CNN on Saturday that a wild skunk had gotten into the baby goats\u2019 pen July 29. The farm shot and burned the skunk.\n <\/p>\n \n None of the goats appeared to have been bitten, but one died August 19, and another fell ill the next day and had to be euthanized.\n <\/p>\n \n North Carolina\u2019s health department said it is \u201cwell prepared to respond to rabies.\u201d About 300 animals test positive for rabies in the state every year; most of them wild.\n <\/p>\n