The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will expand its anti-rabies efforts in the El Paso area this January as part of the agency’s 32nd annual Oral Rabies Vaccination Program (ORVP). The initiative, which previously increased aerial bait distribution in far West Texas due to the Arizona Fox rabies variant’s presence within 150 miles of the Texas border, will now also include hand distribution of vaccine baits in targeted areas around El Paso.
“Our mission is to vaccinate wildlife along the borders of Texas to maintain herd immunity against rabies and keep new or previously eliminated rabies variants from becoming established in any part of Texas,” said Kathy Parker, ORVP Director and Field Surveillance Lead. “However, we continue to monitor all the counties of Texas for outbreaks and/or potential areas of rabies interest.”
Aerial drops are scheduled to begin with flights from Alpine on January 16, followed by additional flights from Del Rio International Airport on January 21, depending on weather conditions. The oral rabies vaccine bait, produced by Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health USA Inc., comes in small plastic packets dipped in fish oil and fish-meal crumbles designed to attract wild canids such as coyotes and foxes.
Officials state that these baits do not pose a threat to pets, livestock, or wildlife. The annual ORVP project costs $2 million and receives funding from both the State of Texas and the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service/Wildlife Services.
During the two-week operation, between six and nine flights are planned each day. Aircraft will fly at altitudes between 500 and 1,000 feet above ground level, distributing approximately 693,600 oral rabies vaccine baits at a density of 50 baits per square mile. The Border Maintenance Zone for ORVP includes 19 counties: El Paso, Hudspeth, Culberson, Jeff Davis, Presidio, Brewster, Pecos, Terrell, Val Verde, Kinney, Maverick, Zavala, Dimmit, Webb, Zapata, Starr, Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy.
Hand-distribution efforts will also take place in parts of Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy counties in addition to those around El Paso.
The ORVP has played a key role in reducing cases involving domestic dog/coyote rabies variant and the Texas gray fox variant. Before the program began over three decades ago human deaths from canine rabies occurred in Texas and many people exposed had to undergo postexposure treatment.
In 1994 there were 122 confirmed animal cases involving the domestic dog/coyote rabies variant. After initiating air drops in South Texas in 1995 animal cases dropped to zero by 2000. Only two additional cases were reported—one each in 2001 and 2004—both near the Rio Grande River likely involving animals crossing from Mexico.
Targeting the gray fox variant began with air-dropped baits in West and Central Texas starting in 1996. More than 240 animal cases were recorded from this variant in 1995 but none have been confirmed since May 2009 following expanded vaccination efforts after a single case was found in a cow in 2013.
Since ORVP started no human cases linked to these specific rabies virus variants have been confirmed within Texas.
