Raccoon that bit person in Beaufort County confirmed to have rabies, officials say
A person was bitten Saturday by a raccoon that later tested positive for rabies on Callawassie Island, according to a news release from the Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The raccoon was confirmed to have rabies on Tuesday, the news release said.
“Rabies is usually transmitted through a bite which allows saliva from an infected animal to be introduced into the body of a person or another animal,” David Vaughan, director of DHEC’s Onsite Wastewater, Rabies Prevention, and Enforcement Division, said in the release.
To reduce the risk of getting rabies, avoid contact with wild and stray animals, the news release said.
The raccoon is the second animal in Beaufort County to test positive for rabies in 2019. Another raccoon that bit a person on Lady’s Island Drive in the northern part of the county tested positive on Jan. 1.
In 2018, 100 animals tested positive for rabies in South Carolina. Nine of those cases occurred in Beaufort County — the most of any county in the state, according to DHEC data.
Since 2013, South Carolina has averaged approximately 108 positive cases a year.
Anyone who comes into contact with an animal that potentially has rabies may call DHEC’s Environmental Affairs Beaufort office at (843) 846-1030 weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The after-hours number is (888) 847-0902.
