Brockton dog's death puts focus on rabies vaccine rules
Canine euthanized after being bit by rabid skunk 10 days after vaccination lapsed. Dog's owner either had to put the dog down or quarantine the animal for three months in a kennel, followed by three months of ?strict confinement? at home.
Scott Eisen/The Enterprise
Kerry Howard of Brockton with her dog, Lucy, outside of her house on Scott Road in Brockton on Monday. Howard's neighbor across the street had her dog euthanized after it was bit by a rabid animal and was not up-to-date on its rabies vaccination.
By Joseph Markman
The Enterprise
Posted Oct. 28, 2014 @ 1:05 am
Updated Oct 28, 2014 at 1:16 AM
?It just strikes me as totally ridiculous,? said Richard Simmonds, an emeritus professor of physiology at the University of Nevada School of Medicine.
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Simmonds argues that a pet with a recently lapsed vaccine should be treated the same as one with a current vaccination.
?Any qualified immunologist or virologist would have advised the animal control authorities responsible for this atrocity that the ?one-year? or ?three-year? designation for the rabies vaccine is somewhat arbitrary,? he said.
His argument is based on research done by academics like Richard Ford, an immunologist and professor of medicine at North Carolina State University. Ford has also argued that the three-year expiration for the rabies vaccine is ?arbitrary.?...
