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Goat in Orange County tests positive for rabies

Orange County officials on Thursday reported the fifth confirmed rabies case of the year after a goat tested positive for the virus.

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Orange County officials on Thursday reported the fifth confirmed rabies case of the year after a goat tested positive for the virus.
The 2-month-old goat, which belonged to a small family farm in northern Orange County, died April 22 after being sick. It was sent to the state lab for testing.

Several family members and a neighbor bottle-fed the animal for several weeks before its death. Three of those people have begun rabies treatment, officials said.

A veterinarian from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has placed six other goats on the farm under a six-month quarantine. The department wants to remind livestock owners that rabies vaccinations are now approved for horses, cattle and sheep.

Orange County recorded 12 positive rabies cases last year.

 

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