Yellowknife (Sep 08/04) - A North America-wide recall of rabies vaccine means health officials here will have to be careful with the territories' supply until 2006.

The problem began in April when the vaccine's manufacturer, Aventis Pasteur, discovered an "non-inactivated" virus in a single product lot, according to the Web site of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta (CDC). For safety reasons, the lot was never distributed, but led to a precautionary recall of all batches produced around the same time.

The vaccine in question is used on people. There's plenty of vaccine for dogs.

In the NWT, Health and Social Services will make do with its existing stockpile of the vaccine until early or mid 2006, said Dr. Andre Corriveau, Chief Medical Health Officer.

"There is a supply, but in order to make it last we have to use our supplies judiciously," said communicable disease specialist Wanda White.

In the NWT, the human vaccine is given to officers with Municipal Enforcement and with Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. As well, people who will travel to countries with high rates of rabies infection also receive the shots.

The vaccine is also used after any serious bite from a dog, said White. In the event of a lesser injury, the dog is quarantined for 10 days to see if symptoms of infection appear.

White explained that when they can be captured, dogs are usually quarantined because the only way to test for rabies in dogs is to cut off the head and test tissue in the central nervous system. In the case of the NWT, a test subject would go to a facility in Lethbridge, Alta.

Lot of dog bites in the NWT

The disease control centre reports that dog bites account for 90 per cent of all rabies cases in humans, and 99 per cent of all human death from the virus.

In the North, rabies is usually carried by foxes in the high Arctic, who may pass it on to domesticated dogs. Rabies is generally carried by wild carnivores and bats.

"We have a lot of dog bites in the NWT," said White, "a huge number."

In 2003, there were 67 dog bites reported in Yellowknife and surrounding areas. Of those, only 12 dog owners could say with certainty that their dog had been vaccinated.

Foxes are common throughout Yellowknife. In December 2003 it was reported that many foxes had been spotted around Weledeh Catholic School.

But no cases of rabies had been reported.

White urges dog owners to get their dogs vaccinated and keep them off the streets -- a particularly large issue in the communities, she said -- because if a dog cannot be found and quarantined the human vaccine must be administered, and that depletes the territories' supply.