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The chances of acquiring rabies from an animal bite in Waterloo region remains low, but that doesn't mean looking out for the disease isn't a high priority for public health.
Numbers released by public health this week show incidents of rabies holding steady across the province as vigilance by public health inspectors remains high.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency tested 1,434 animals for rabies last year and only 56 came back positive.
Over the previous five years, eight animals tested positive for rabies in Waterloo region, two of which occurred in 2023.
A rare false positive rabies test happened in Cambridge last year when a sample from a skunk thought to have had the disease, later tested negative after warnings went out to the public.
In 2023, public health conducted 1,445 investigations of reported animal exposures.
The majority of those incidents involved bites or scratches from domestic dogs, 61 per cent, or cats, 28 per cent; numbers that were consistent with previous years.
Other cases involved wildlife such as bats, raccoons, rodents, and livestock, such as cattle, horses, and pigs.
In most cases where a domestic animal is involved, public health inspectors are able to confine the dog or cat for 10 days for observation.
If the animal had rabies at the time of human exposure, it will develop symptoms within 10 days, indicating the need for human post-exposure prophylaxis.
Rabies post-exposure prophylaxis was issued to 151 people last year, representing 10 per cent of total investigations completed.
Since 1924, 25 Canadians, six in Ontario, died of rabies.
The most recent rabies case in Ontario occurred in 2012, involving a person who acquired the disease while travelling to a country where animal and human rabies have been reported.
No domestic animal or human rabies cases have been recorded in Waterloo region.
