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By September 10, 2026 / 11:32 PM EDT / CBS Boston Add CBS News on Google The CDC has issued a health advisory after a national uptick in rabies cases. Wildlife experts point out that animals are generally scared of humans, but it's when they contract rabies that they become more aggressive and act out of character. They're taking to the skies in Massachusetts to get ahold of the problem.
"This year has been particularly busy," said Zak Mertz of New England Wildlife Centers. It's been around for thousands of years, but the CDC now reports an increase in rabies cases nationwide. "We have also seen a mild uptick particularly on the South Shore in positive cases as compared to other years," Mertz said.
Mertz is on a task force combating rabies in Massachusetts. Mertz says the increase is likely due to a population increase in the animals that frequently carry the disease. For the past few days, they've been using a helicopter to drop edible vaccine packets.
It's a way to vaccinate wild animals from Cape Cod to the South Shore. Edible rabies vaccine packet for wild animals being dropped from a helicopter in Massachusetts. Cape Cod and Southeast Mass.
Rabies Task Force "The idea is to sort of work methodically starting with the Cape and push outward to work to eliminate the virus systematically," Mertz said. Just last month, WBZ-TV reported on a now confirmed rabid fox attacking a 6-year-old girl in Worcester . In the same city a few months earlier, a woman had to fend a fox off with her purse when it attacked her on her front steps.
Just last week, three people in Lebanon, New Hampshire, were attacked by a mystery cat. Officials there are testing for the disease. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is encouraging people to vaccinate their pets and keep them on leashes and to contact a vet immediately if they're exposed.
There is post-exposure treatment for humans, but you have to move fast. "It's no reason to panic, but it's a good reminder that rabies is out there," Mertz said. The vaccine packets are nonlethal for humans and pets, but they're asking people to keep their dogs away from them if you find one, so they aren't taken from the wild animals they're meant for.
In: Massachusetts Rabies
Source: CBS News
