Overview
- Vancouver Coastal Health confirmed on Oct. 21 that a skunk captured in downtown Vancouver tested positive for rabies after biting several people.
- A small number of people who were bitten have been assessed and received rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin to prevent infection.
- Vancouver Coastal Health asks anyone who had direct contact with a sick or unusually behaving skunk in downtown Vancouver, the West End or Stanley Park between Sept. 22 and Oct. 17 to contact VCH or seek emergency assessment.
- Rabies is spread through the saliva of infected animals by bites or, less commonly, scratches and is not transmitted by skunk spray, urine or feces.
- Rabies cases in people are rare in Canada but fatal if untreated, Health Canada records 28 deaths since 1924 and the CDC has recently warned of rising human exposures to rabid or potentially rabid animals.