'Near catastrophic' rabies incident jolts Department of Public Health

Ariel Hart, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Jan 22, 2025

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A body part from a deceased animal being tested for rabies caused deep concern at the highest level of the state Department of Public Health last year after the improperly sealed package leaked and potentially exposed swathes of the public health workforce to the disease last year.

The animal was a raccoon, DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said.

“Everyone from the UPS driver to our own staff in several districts of the lab were potentially exposed to a leaking rabid animal head,” DPH Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said, recounting the incident at a meeting of the agency’s board. “I must have spent two full days … dealing with (the) situation.”

The “near catastrophic” incident caused the public health agency to investigate and realize a cascade of gaps and errors were endangering people all along the chain of custody, she said.

The upside is that the agency used the incident to identify gaps and institute new rules, such as more secure packaging and insulation and ensuring those who handle the sample are vaccinated against rabies. DPH has also rewritten its manual and completed 12 in-person, regional trainings for 284 workers.

Rabies is a disease spread between mammals, and the main carriers in the Atlantic South are raccoons and skunks. In the U.S., bat bites are the most common cause of rabies-related deaths.

The disease is generally held in their saliva, and while many animals avoid humans, they may become aggressive if they have rabies and attack.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rabies is not generally spread through casual contact like touching a person with rabies or coming in contact with items they’ve touched. The virus spreads when infected saliva touches an open cut in the skin or a mucous membrane like in the eye or mouth.

The virus then travels to infect the nervous system and can be fatal.

So when environmental health workers packaged the head of the suspected rabid animal to send to the lab for testing, it was important that all fluids from the animal be contained.

Instead, it turned out workers had not been properly trained in how to do the packaging. Also, the packaging kits being sent out were incomplete, and not all of the workers sending the samples had been vaccinated against rabies.

Toomey said she wants the public to know the Department of Health faced the issue candidly and addressed it.

“It’s an interesting story of public health,” Toomey said.