New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
“IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAD DIRECT CONTACT with a Woodchuck at John George Ice Cream in Dartmouth, MA on June 11, 2023, at roughly 5 PM, please contact the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) at 617-983-6800 (available 24 hours/7 days a week) or your health care provider for a rabies exposure risk assessment as soon as possible.
Woodchucks are considered high-risk animals for transmitting rabies. Even animals that appear healthy may have rabies virus in their saliva. Any person who has contact with saliva through a bite or a scratch, or if saliva gets into a fresh wound, or the eyes, nose or mouth, can be exposed to the virus.
Rabies is a serious disease and consultation with medical staff is needed after possible exposures. Following an exposure to rabies, disease can be prevented with prompt administration of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).”-
