MONTEREY – An infection with a variant of rabies carried by bats is to blame for the death of a cat in Monterey earlier this month, The Monterey County Health Department announced Friday.
Laboratory results confirmed on Thursday that the domestic cat died of the bat-contracted virus, according to health department officials.
The cat’s owner, a Monterey resident, notified the county Health Department of the deceased cat on July 2, health department officials said.
The case is the county’s second rabies case in a domestic animal in three years, according to health department officials.
Bats and skunks are commonly infected with the rabies virus in California, health department officials said.
The rabies virus is carried in the saliva and nervous system tissue, including the brain, of infected animals. People and animals can contract rabies from a bite by an infected animal, according to health department officials.
Once rabies symptoms occur, there is no effective treatment and the disease is nearly 100 percent fatal in both humans and animals. Rabies among pets can be prevented, however, through vaccination, health department officials said.
For more information about rabies, residents can visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s website at www.cdc.gov/rabies.
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