Owner of dog that bit boy is sought

Owner of dog that bit boy is sought

Victim may face rabies shots

April 17, 2001

By Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

A boy bitten and injured by a dog Saturday evening at the Skateboard Park may have to undergo a series of preventive rabies vaccinations if the owner of the dog does not come forward, his mother said.

Fourteen-year-old Derrick Conner was at the park around 7:45 p.m. when he approached a medium-sized black dog to pet it when it jumped up and bit his face, said Gina Conner.

The dog was reportedly on a leash and the owner, described as a tall teenager, fled the park with the dog immediately following the incident without asking if the other boy was all right or exchanging information about the dog’s vaccinations.

The unidentified teenager and his dog had reportedly been at the park for quite some time prior to the bite, Derrick Conner told his mother, and was not being overtly aggressive when it bit him.

"He was just happy and overactive and just jumped up and bit him," Gina Conner said. "Derrick said it wasn’t the dog’s fault."

The boy was taken to the emergency room at Southwest Memorial Hospital, where he received 16 stitches in the face for the bite. The attending doctor told the boy’s mother to watch for signs related to rabies such as nausea, and in the meantime, the boy’s parents have made several unsuccessful efforts to locate the dog and young owner.

"I just want the kid to know, we don’t want any trouble with him," Gina Conner said. "We just want to make sure his dog was vaccinated so Derrick doesn’t have to go through that (vaccinations)."

The hospital’s infection-control officer, Marc Meyer, said that although it is very unlikely the dog is rabid, it is possible the boy would be treated by a series of injections, starting with rabies immune globulin to temporarily guard against the development of rabies and followed by a series of vaccinations to build an immunity against future development.

Meyer said the first of the shots can be administered as late as eight days following the bite but preferably sooner. Rabies is transmitted through saliva, and if left untreated, is fatal, Meyer said.

Montezuma County Sanitari-an Diana Fahrion said the vaccinations for rabies are not absolutely necessary and are done on a voluntary basis for the individual who has been bitten.

"If they can’t find the dog, it’s up to the person in that position to decide if they think it’s necessary to go through rabies treatment."

Gina Conner said her son had not yet received any of the vaccinations because they were hoping to locate the dog and find out about its health records before resorting to the unpleasant series of shots.

Andrea Jeter with the City of Cortez Animal Shelter said, that by law, any domestic dog involved in a human bite must be quarantined for a 10 day-observation period to eliminate the risk of rabies transmission. The 10-day quarantine is required by law regardless of the dog’s vaccination status.

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the last confirmed case of a rabid dog in Colorado was in 1974 in El Paso County, according to the CDPHE.

"If it is a local dog, probably the chances of it having rabies are just absolutely not very high just because of the past history," Meyer said. "We had a positive bat in 2000 ... so we do keep the rabies vaccine on hand because of the bat situation, but I really haven’t given it for dog bites."

Regardless, Gina Conner said she would like to ask the dog’s owner to come forward so that her family can have peace of mind. Anyone with information is asked to contact her at 565-1071.