PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER WITH YOUR RABIES PROGRAM TEAM AND ALL PUBLIC HEALTH INSPECTORS

Rabies Suspect Animals With No Human/Animal Exposure Testing Program Has Been Extended!

We are happy to announce that funding has been extended by the Ministry of Health to continue the MOH-OAVT RRP-CWHC partnership that provides testing of wild animals (raccoons, skunks, foxes, coyotes, bats, feral cats) displaying clinical signs of rabies but have had no human or animal exposure. While bats can be tested, the main focus of this program is wild terrestrial animals. This rabies surveillance program is voluntary for Ontario Public Health Units to participate in and provides the opportunity for animals to be tested that do not qualify for testing through the normal routes due to lack of human or animal exposure and falling outside of the MNRF’s enhanced surveillance zones.   For more information on how to submit these cases please see the provided infographic. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions at rrp@oavt.org or 1-844-872-2437.

Everything You Need to Know About The New RRP Software! The new and improved online Rabies Specimen Collection Request Submission forms have been running for a couple of weeks now and the launch went very smoothly. To submit your request online for Rabies Specimen Collections please visit the new OAVT RRP's Public Health Unit Portal and go to the section called "Rabies Testing Facilitated through the OAVT RRP". To help you better navigate the new submission forms we have created the OAVT RRP Online Submission Software Upgrade 2021 PHU Staff User Guide. Please share this with all of your Public Health Rabies Program colleagues. To ensure you receive our specimen collection related emails please make sure to save rrp@oavt.org to your email contacts/safe list. 

Human Exposure Submission Form Tips When submitting multiple animals that have the same victim, original location and collection location you no longer have to submit separate forms. When you are completing the submission form click on the blue "Add Animal" button that is located at the bottom of the "Animal Information" section. This will open a 2nd "Animal Information" section for you to complete for the 2nd animal and if there is a 3rd you will click the "Add Animal" button a 3rd time. Completing the form this way allows the system to create a unique CFIA identification number for each animal while only having to enter the additional information once (i.e. collection location, victim details, PHU contacts, etc.) Currently the text box for the contact phone number does not provide enough room for an extension. This issue is currently with our developers and until it is resolved there are 2 options for providing an extension: In the "Contact Name" text box you can include an extension beside the name, i.e. Tamara Gillen ext231 At the bottom of the form there is an "Additional Notes" section where you can enter the name and extension in the text box.

Rabies in Ontario - MNRF Report The MNRF is reporting on their results of wildlife testing (with no human/animal exposure), surveillance and bait drops. As of May 26th the MNRF is reporting a total of 483 cases of raccoon strain and 21 cases of fox strain rabies in Ontario since the outbreak began in December 2015. In 2021, the MNRF has tested a total of 1040 animals and distributed more than 1500 baits. Below are the positive rabies results as of May 26th, 2021. Niagara: 3 skunks The total number of raccoon strain cases since the outbreak began in 2015 are distributed among the following Public Health Units: Hamilton: 215 raccoons, 112 skunks, 1 fox, 2 cats Haldimand-Norfolk: 30 raccoons, 2 skunks, 1 llama Niagara: 40 raccoons, 19 skunks, 1 dog Brant: 26 raccoons, 2 skunk Halton: 17 raccoons, 9 skunks Waterloo: 2 skunks The total number of fox strain cases since the outbreak began in 2015 are distributed among the following Public Health Units: Perth: 6 cows, 2 skunks Huron: 1 cow, 3 skunks Waterloo: 1 fox, 5 skunks Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 3 skunks

CFIA Report on Rabies in Canada The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has a website with statistics on all rabies cases in Canada (including the MNRF cases reported above) dating back to 1988. They update their website on the 28th day of each month. As of April 30th, 2021 there has been a total of 531 animals submitted for rabies testing across the country, including 336 which were submitted by Ontario. Of these cases, 17 were positive for rabies, including 4 that were from Ontario. The rabies positive cases in Ontario are distributed among the following species: Bat: 1 Skunk: 3 Visit the CFIA website for more information on rabies in Canada.

The Rabies Response Program Is Celebrating 6 Years!

December 31st, 2020 marked the completion of the Rabies Response Program's sixth year in operation. Since the OAVT Rabies Response Program was established in 2015 the program has received 8215 specimen collection requests of which 151 (approximately 2%) have tested positive for the rabies virus. Currently the OAVT RRP has 125+ Registered Veterinary Technicians working across the province collecting, packaging and shipping rabies specimens in partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Ontario's 24 Public Health Units. In 2020 the OAVT RRP received 1393 rabies specimen collection requests. Of those requests there were a total of 29 rabies positive results or approximately 2% of submitted cases. The rabies positive specimens were all bats carrying either the rabies virus variant associated with big brown bats (BBCAN1) or silver haired bats (SHB) with the exception of one skunk that tested positive carrying a raccoon strain variant. Positive rabies specimens were located in the following Public Health Areas: Eastern Ontario Grey Bruce Haldimand-Norfolk Haliburton-Kawartha-Pine Ridge District Halton Regional Huron Perth Middlesex-London Niagara Regional Area Ottawa Peel Regional Sudbury and District Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph York Regional We would like to take the time to thank the Ministry of Health and all of Ontario's Public Health Unit Teams. The OAVT RRP would not be nearly as successful without the hard work of each and every Public Health Rabies Program Team. We look forward to our continued partnership providing rabies surveillance across the province.

The OAVT Public Health Rabies Response Program 107-100 Stone Rd West Guelph, ON N1G 5L3 1-844-8RABIES www.oavtrrp.org rrp@oavt.org