Rabies found in horse

ARTESIA, N.M. (KRQE) - Rabies is spreading into New Mexico at an alarming rate. Just recently, five cases have been confirmed in Southeastern New Mexico.

A horse in Eddy County is the latest animal to contract the disease. It recently started showing signs of rabies and had to be euthanized two days later. The four other cases were found in skunks.

Although it's not common for livestock to contract rabies, health officials are still warning livestock owners to get their animals vaccinated.

"Any companion animal that people have a lot of contact with such as horses, dogs, cats, llamas, those animals need to be vaccinated," explained Eddy County Agriculture Agent, Woods Houghton.

But not everybody is aware their livestock needs the vaccine.

Livestock owner Jeanne Creamer said she has always vaccinated her household pets, such as cats and dogs, but said this is the first she's heard of rabies vaccination for her livestock.

"It's kind of scary," Creamer said. Like many others, she had never heard of a horse contracting rabies.

Health officials stress every mammal is potentially at risk, even though the disease is mainly seen in small wild animals, such as bats, skunks and raccoons.

"If rodents are getting into feed sacks and that saliva is getting onto the feed and then fed to the animal, within a certain period of time they can pick up the virus that way," explained Houghton.

Since many rural areas in New Mexico have livestock, Houghton said transporting animals to the vet can be a difficult task, since a licensed veterinarian is the only authority that can administer the rabies vaccine.

"Getting those animals in the trailer is hard enough one time, let alone four or five times getting them to vet's offices," said Creamer.

Houghton also said the drought is also a factor, drawing more wild animals to greener areas for food, which in turn increases the possibility of human contact with the virus.

The department of health warns anyone who comes in contact with a sick or dead wild animal to stay away, and report it to their local animal control.

Health officials stress the importance of prevention, since there is no cure for the rabies virus.

"I didn't know there was such a thing for a rabies shot for horses," Creamer said. "And so we're taking care of that." She said she's scheduled for all of her animals to receive the vaccine.

Several people who came into contact with the sick horse will have to be treated with a series of vaccines to prevent them from developing the disease.