Staff And Wire Reports | Posted: Saturday, January 2, 2010
PHOENIX - Health officials say Arizona had a record number of rabies cases in 2009.
The state Department of Health Services says 261 animals tested positive for rabies, 85 more than in 2008. About a third of the 2009 cases were in Pima County.

During the record-breaking year, two counties established quarantines - another first for Arizona.

Santa Cruz County in December instituted a 60-day quarantine for the entire county, similar to Coconino County's quarantine earlier in the year. Both counties ordered people to keep their dogs in their yards or on a short leash, bring dishes of pet food indoors at night and vaccinate all pets.

Rabies is transmitted through bites or saliva contact with a rabid animal. In 2009, 47 people in Arizona were exposed to confirmed rabid animals. They received the correct treatment quickly and the infection was stopped.

Pima County already has its first suspected rabies case of 2010.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said it will test for rabies a javelina that charged and bit a 66-year-old Marana man Friday on a hiking path off Dove Mountain Boulevard. A Marana police officer killed the javelina. The victim was transported to Oro Valley/Northwest Hospital, where he began treatment for rabies.

In the most recent confirmed case of rabies in Southern Arizona, a bobcat bit an Oracle man walking his dog on Dec. 23.

The animal's carcass was found nearby two days later, and state health officials confirmed this week that the bobcat was rabid. The victim had begun rabies treatment before the bobcat was found.