An infected fox that surfaced in Eli Whitney earlier this month has been credited with the fifth confirmed case of rabies that Alamance County has logged this calendar year.
According to the local health department, this rabid fox was one of two that interacted with humans near the juncture of NC 87 and Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road on August 16. Although one of the foxes remains on the loose, the other was captured and tested for rabies at a state lab in Raliegh, which reported back on Tuesday with the positive test result.
Prior to this fox’s infection, the health department had reported rabies in two other foxes that turned up in Snow Camp and Burlington in June and July as well as a raccoon that bit two dogs in Burlington at the beginning of June. The county’s first case this year came from a cat that was exposed to four humans in April.
The five cases which Alamance County has posted this year are not unprecedented in the local health department’s records. In 2024, the health department reported six cases of rabies – the highest number since it had confirmed since 2020.
Earlier data is also available from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, which has cumulative county-level statistics up to 2018. These records show that the number of rabies cases has fluctuated wildly since 2001 – with as few as one case in 2004 and 2016 and upward of eight in 2002, 2003, 2010, and 2013. The highest total during this period was a rash of 16 cases in 2003 that included 12 confirmed cases of infected raccoons.
Aside from raccoons, Alamance County has also witnessed rabies in foxes, bats, skunks, dogs, cats, and equines. Rabies is nevertheless a potential threat to any mammal, including humans, who may contract the virus through an infected animal’s saliva if bitten.
Alamance County’s health department recommends that anyone who is bitten should wash the wound with soap and running water for 10 minutes before seeking medical attention. The health department also recommends reporting the location and description of the potentially infected animal to animal control. For more information, residents are encouraged to contact the health department’s environmental health section at (336) 570-6367.
