Morganton (GA) – A fox that has tested positive for rabies bit a resident of Morganton in Fannin County, Georgia.

According to Fannin County Environmental Health officials, the incident took place early in the morning on Thursday, July 3 at a home on the north side of Dry Branch Road in Morganton. The resident was in the yard tending to chickens when the fox bit the resident’s leg and upper arm. The resident’s spouse shot the fox and brought it to the environmental health office later that morning.

A health official prepared the fox for rabies testing and delivered the specimen to the Georgia Public Health Laboratory on Thursday. The test results came back as positive later that day.

On Thursday afternoon, county environmental staff, Shannon Bradburn and Monica Hodskins, canvassed the neighborhood with flyers regarding the incident and with rabies information.

The resident will soon begin post rabies exposure treatment, which includes an initial shot of rabies immune globulin and four shots of rabies vaccine administered over a two-week period.

Rabies that goes untreated is fatal almost 100 percent of the time; therefore, if a person or domestic animal is bitten by an animal in Fannin County, residents should report it immediately to Fannin County Environmental Health at (706) 632-3024.

Health officials also continue to urge residents to maintain rabies vaccinations in pets.

For more information about rabies and rabies protection, log onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website at http://www.cdc.gov/features/rabiessafefamily/.