A Stockbridge family of eight is undergoing rabies treatments after interacting with an infected cat.
Henry County Animal Control supervisor Vince Farah said a rabies alert was issued Tuesday after multiple members of a family on Trace Drive reported being bitten or scratched by a cat that later tested positive for the virus. Walter McElreath told Channel 2 Action News that he was scratched by the cat — which his family had interacted with for a few months — while trying to get it into a cage.
“You would not believe how strong that little animal is when it was going crazy like that,” McElreath told Channel 2.
The cat has been euthanized, Farah said, and “whatever infected it has long since checked out.”
Farah said all eight members of McElreath’s family — including six children — will begin rabies treatments in the next several days. They will not all be treated at the same time because Piedmont Henry Hospital doesn’t keep enough of the vaccine on hand and will have to order more doses.
In the meantime, rabies alert signs have gone up around the McElreaths’ Carriage Trace neighborhood and a 45-day animal quarantine has gone into effect.
The incident marks the second rabies alert in Henry County in less than a week, and the fourth of the year. The county set a record last year with 18 rabies alerts.
“I believe rabies has always been here,” Farah said, “it’s just the fact that now people are becoming more aware of what to do, and what signs and symptoms to look for (in animals).”
For more information, residents should visit hcacc.org.
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