112 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



line, rabies would become extinct in Peunsvlvania. It will be evi- 

 dent, however, tliat the admission of dogs from other states comld 

 not be iirevenled and rabies exists and is quite as prevalent, or 

 more preA'alcnt, in all of the adjoining states as it is here. Hence, 

 if rabies were completely eradicated here Pennsylvania would be 

 subject to almost immediate and to frequent reinvasion. Still, 

 there is satisfaction in the knowledge that rabies does not spread 

 rapidly across a country. 



The range of a rabid dog is rarely more than a few miles. When 

 a number of dogs within the limits of this range have been bitten 

 and have developed rabies, the disease is pretty thoroughly estab- 

 lished in that district, and from these limits may be spread by 

 developed cases a few miles in all directions. From these limits it 

 is spread by animals afflicted with the disease of the next generation 

 into a larger zone, and so on until a whole state, or whole group of 

 states, has been invaded. 



It will be seen bv reference to the list of counties in which rabies 

 has occurred during the past year that a large proportion of these 

 are border counties or, if not immediatelj' adjoining, are close to, 

 the State line. There is, however, one important exception to this. 

 There is a group of counties extending in a northeasterly direction 

 from the center of the State and embracing the counties of Centre, 

 Clinton, Lycoming. Northumberland, Montour, Columbia, Sullivan, 

 Luzerne, Wyoming and Lackawanna, in which a large number of 

 cases of rabies have occurred during the past year. 



Quarantines have been placed on dogs in all of these counties, 

 and the prevalence of the disease has been greatly restricted. It 

 is hoped that the continuation of these measures in localities 

 where they are esx)ecially needed, will result in the elimination of 

 rabies. There is no doubt that this result could be more quickly 

 reached by establishing a general quarantine of all dogs in the 

 State, but so long as neighboring states have no organization to 

 co-operate effectively in an effort to repress rabies, and so long as 

 there is no United States law upon this subject, it seems that such 

 a general quarantine which, after all, could afford but temporary 

 relief, would not be justifiable. ^ 



It is clearly evident that the measures that are ado])ted are of 

 value, although they are not so immediately or completely effective 

 as would be more stringent quarantines applied to larger districts. 



The plan that is adopted in dealing with rabies is as follows: 

 Upon the receipt of reports of the existence of rabies in any part 

 of the State, an investigation is made to determine the distribution 

 of the disease. Authority is immediately given to a local agent 

 of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board 1o (quarantine all dogs that 

 are known to have been exposed or that there is reasonable cause 



