Thirty-two people in Howell County, Mo., have started rabies postexposure treatment and eight dogs have been euthanized after a puppy exhibited signs of rabies, according to a KY3 News report.
The original puppy was just 8 weeks old when it died and tested positive for rabies. Its owners speculate that the puppy got rabies from its mother, which may have killed a rabid skunk and then passed the virus on to her newborn puppies.
The Howell County Health Department has contacted everyone who may have been exposed to rabies, according to the report.
Rabies can be deadly, but the number of rabies-related human deaths in the U.S. sits around one to two per year, because modern-day prophylaxis is nearly 100 percent successful, according to the CDC.
Rabies postexposure prophylaxis in humans involves one dose of immune globulin and four doses of rabies vaccine over a two-week period.