Fort Drum soldier contracts rabies

FORT DRUM — A soldier was diagnosed Friday with rabies, although he likely contracted the disease during a recent overseas deployment.

Military officials will not release the soldier’s name, condition or the country in which the infection was contracted, but a source in the north country community said the soldier had been bitten by a dog in Afghanistan.

Thomas W. Skinner, a spokesman for the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the public should not be alarmed.

“Rabies is not something that is likely transmitted from person to person,” he said. “You have to have direct contact with an infected individual’s saliva to really acquire this infection.”

The CDC, the Department of Defense and the state Health Department are monitoring the soldier’s care. They also are checking on other potential cases, Mr. Skinner said.

“There are efforts under way … to track down anybody who they believe may have had direct close contact with this person in order to assess whether or not that individual should receive post-rabies vaccinations,” he said.

Dogs are the source of 99 percent of rabies cases in humans, according to the World Health Organization, which recommends on its website that wounds be washed immediately and the patient receive a post-exposure vaccination if rabies is suspected. It’s unclear how far along the soldier’s infection is, but no diagnosis process can detect the infection before symptoms emerge, according to the organization. It recommends treatment begin days after being exposed to prevent death.

WHO publications state that more than 55,000 people die from the infection each year worldwide. However, more than 15 million people are treated with a rabies post-exposure regimen, which saves an estimated 327,000 lives. The Fort Drum soldier has the first confirmed rabies case in Jefferson County that Stephen A. Jennings, public information officer for Jefferson County Public Health, can remember.

Times staff writer David C. Shampine contributed to this report.