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Rabies Eradication Bringing Stinky Fish Cakes To Pinellas

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2009

A 'cake' containing rabies vaccine

For the rest of the week, Pinellas will be peppered with more than 70,000 small fishy cakes containing rabies vaccine in an attempt to eradicate the disease in the county.

For the first time in a decade, the annual distribution will cover the entire county, including every road, so residents may find one of the fish cakes on a sidewalk or street. Although the cakes are not toxic, officials advise wearing gloves if you handle one.

Volunteers will begin spreading the cakes today and expect to wrap up by Friday but will extend the program if necessary.

The cakes, made with fish meal, are harmless to people or pets, including pets already vaccinated against rabies, county spokeswoman Mary Burrell said. However, they may upset the stomach of some dogs.

The cakes and vaccine are intended for raccoons, the largest reservoir of rabies virus. Random trapping and testing of raccoons in Pinellas since January 2008 found five animals that tested positive for the virus.

There were no reports last year of humans coming in contact with a rabid animal in Pinellas, Burrell said.

The county distributes the vaccine cakes every year, but for the past decade the distributions were by helicopter only along the northern border of the county to create a barrier to stop the intrusion of the virus.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture picked Pinellas as one of two places in the nation this year to test whether a widespread vaccine distribution can eradicate rabies. The other test area is Cape Cod, Mass.

Pinellas was chosen because it is a peninsula and easier to keep infected animals from entering, Burrell said.

The USDA is paying for the distribution of 71,670 cakes. Helicopters will be used to reach remote, wooded areas.

The fish meal attracts the raccoons; the animals get the vaccine when their teeth pierce a small packet inside the cake.

The cakes are about 3 inches wide and 1 inch high, Burrell said. They smell terrible.

The county, with the help of the USDA, started distributing the vaccine in 1995 when there were 30 reported cases of rabies. There were no cases by 2005.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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