A raccoon found on Feb. 29 on Sharon Court in the Corbin Hills neighborhood prompted officials at the Health Department and Animal Shelter to start warning residents. A state lab later confirmed the animal was rabid.

Last year the county confirmed 11 cases of rabies, compared to 39 in 1998 and a record 72 cases in 1997.

Officer Fran Hancock of the Rowan County Animal Shelter attended a rabies conference in October and says people should take precautions.

“Do not leave food out overnight,” Hancock said. “You don’t want to attract anything in towards you.” Such as raccoons, stray cats or dogs, skunks or foxes.

Smaller animals, like squirrels and opossums, don’t generally carry the rabies virus, but you should avoid them anyway, Hancock said.

The main carriers in Rowan County and North Carolina are raccoons, accounting for approximately 80 percent of incidents.

“Then the skunk and the fox. We don’t see many bats,” Hancock said.

But rabid bats may be the most dangerous to people because “you don’t know you’ve been bitten and people don’t think twice about killing them and throwing them away” Hancock said.

“If you see a bat in your house and you didn’t see it enter your home, don’t kill it and throw it away,” Hancock said. Contact the Animal Shelter immediately so the bat can be tested.

She explained that bats’ teeth are small enough that someone can be bitten and not even realize it. But once muscle aches, headache and fever set in, or “you feel like your getting the flu, that’s a red flag,” Hancock says.

Rabies attacks the central nervous system and untreated rabies is usually 100 percent fatal. The last person in North Carolina died from rabies in 1953 and only three people survived the disease without treatment.

Humans have generally a 10- day grace period to receive a series of shots to fight the virus. The shots, averaging around $1,200, includes five rabies vaccinations in the arm over a 28-day period, along with a one-time dose of rabies immune globulin.

But cleaning the infected area with soap and water can be the first line of defense.

Unvaccinated animals that are infected must be euthanized or strictly quarantined for six months by a veterinarian. State law mandates that even animals with up-to-date on rabies vaccinations must receive a follow-up vaccination, stay in quarantine for 10 days.

Hancock warns against feeding stray cats.

Often, raccoons join the felines at night and begin to learn a routine of eating from a certain place. “One night there wasn’t any food there so the raccoon attacked the cat,” Hancock said. And when the raccoon tested positive for rabies, all of the animals who came in contact with it were exposed as well as all of the humans who came in contact with the cats.

“If there are stray animals in the neighborhood, you need to contact us so we can trap them and get them away from possible exposure,” Hancock said. She also noted that the county leash law applies to cats.

Hancock also stressed that not all rabid dogs are vicious and foam at the mouth.

“An animal where virus enters the body in their leg,” Hancock said, “They may approach you with their leg limp, and you think the animal was hit by a car and they take it home and nurse it back.”

“Dumb” rabies is just as common as “furious” rabies, and an animal can exhibit both forms as the disease attacks the central nervous system.

“The animal almost acts intoxicated with ‘dumb’ rabies. They will walk up to you and let you touch them,” Hancock said.

The first visible sign of rabies is a change in behavior, but with stray animals it is hard to know their normal behavior.

The Health Department has a video titled “Let’s Talk About Rabies” that is appropriate for all ages.