Northern Harford County residents were warned Thursday that a feral cat living near the county landfill off of Scarboro Road tested positive for rabies and people who may have had recent contact with any stray cats in that area could be at risk.
The department said in a statement that it learned Tuesday of the positive test from the State Public Health Laboratory, which had received the cat from the local department's Environmental Health Services Rabies and Vector Control Unit.
According to the statement, the cat originated from a feral cat colony on Scarboro Road near the Harford County Waste Disposal Center in Street, where it was being fed along with other stray and feral cats.
Anyone who may have been bitten, scratched or licked by any stray cats in this area within the last six months, is urged to call the health department's Communicable Disease Division at 410-612-1774, so a rabies risk assessment can be conducted.
A resident of the area brought the cat to a local veterinarian when she noticed that it was behaving unusually, health officials said. The veterinarian recognized these symptoms as being consistent with rabies, euthanized the cat and submitted it to the Health Department for analysis.
"Rabies is a deadly viral disease that must be taken seriously and risk of a rabies exposure is definitely a concern in these situations," the statement reads. "Other cats in this area could possibly be incubating the rabies virus if they had contact with this cat. The highest risk of exposure is from a bite or scratch of an infected rabid animal but there is a slight risk of exposure through touching or handling as well.
Health Department spokesman Bill Wiseman said they don't know the number of feral cats in the Scarboro Road colony.
"Unfortunately, that is the nature of feral cats, the inability to put a handle on actual numbers," he said.
"The focus of the Health Department at this time is on human risk of rabies exposure and the need to identify anyone who might have come in contact with the rabies-positive cat, in order that we can conduct an assessment of risk and, if appropriate, facilitate post-exposure prophylaxis," Wiseman said. "Our strategy will continue to evolve as we learn more about the situation."