PREPARED BY: Environmental Health
DATE: March 20, 2025
SUBJECT: Animal Bite Investigations in WEC by Municipality - Follow-up Report
BACKGROUND/PURPOSE
Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous system of warm-blooded animals, including humans. Once symptoms appear, rabies is almost always fatal. In Canada, bats, foxes, skunks, and raccoons are the most common transmitters of the disease.
Rabies is a reportable disease in Ontario which is investigated in accordance with the Health Protection and Promotion Act, the Management of Potential Rabies Exposures Guideline, and the Rabies Prevention and Control Protocol. All potential rabies exposure cases are required to be reported to the local public health unit. Investigations are initiated by the public health unit within 24 hours of notification. This includes an assessment of rabies risk in the animal species, the behaviour of the animal implicated, confinement of animals when available or testing of a deceased animal for rabies and ensuring individuals requiring treatment have access to rabies post exposure prophylaxis.
As a follow-up to the February 6, 2025, Board of Health meeting, a total of 1064 animal to human exposure cases were investigated and followed up by the Public Health Inspectors in 2024.
| Municipality | # of Animal to Human Exposure Investigations |
|---|---|
| Town of Amherstburg | 40 |
| City of Windsor | 611 |
| The Municipality of Lakeshore | 61 |
| The Town of Tecumseh | 30 |
| The Municipality of Leamington | 47 |
| The Town of Kingsville | 44 |
| The Town of LaSalle | 44 |
| The Town of Essex | 84 |
| Township of Pelee (Pelee Island) | 3 |
| Out of Jurisdiction | 49 |
| Unknown | 50 |
| TOTAL | 1064 |
Note: Out of 50 unknown cases, 33 were lost to follow up and 17 cases had incomplete reported data.
DISCUSSION
The Environmental Health (EH) Department sends out annual mail out packages to all veterinarians, health care providers, hospitals, police and other agencies to remind them of their legal obligation to report any animal bite or scratch to the health unit.
In 2025, the EH Department will run a rabies public awareness campaign during the month of May (Rabies Awareness Month) and utilize various social media platforms, WECHU website, and print resources (fact sheets, posters) to get the message out on animal bite prevention. In addition, the WECHU will follow-up and work with local municipalities on recent recommendations endorsed by the WECHU BOH related to both rabies prevention (high risk exposures) and overall animal bite prevention initiatives at the municipal level.