Six children and five adults are still undergoing rabies treatment after being exposed on Friday to an unvaccinated rabid dog in Cherokee County, according to the North Georgia Health District.
All 11 people had recently come in contact with the family dog, who died June 24 and tested positive for rabies. Upon receipt of the test results, the group began treatment, which includes one shot of rabies immune globulin and four shots of rabies vaccine over a two-week period, Cherokee County Environmental Health Manager Curtis Barnhart said.
The people at risk for the disease were the five family members living in the home and visitors from Cherokee, Pickens and Houston counties, Barnhart said.
Barnhart told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday that the people who came in contact with the dog are successfully continuing their vaccination series. He said the situation is a cautionary tale to pet owners, as the family was unaware for several weeks that their dog had contracted the disease.
"The main thing we have to get out of this is vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate," he said. "It was a very friendly dog and became aggressive. It actually bit the owners."
A pig that the family kept behind an electric fence with the dog was also bitten by the animal and later euthanized. Barnhart said it is unknown how the dog got rabies.
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