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UPDATED: Yet more questions emerge about rabies at lake

County officials have been tight lipped about a potentially serious health hazard posed by discovery July 9 near the county lake of a stray cat suspected of being infected by the deadly rabies virus.

Among questions officials have refused to answer are where at the lake the animal was found and why it was not preserved and tested as required by state regulations.

Additional questions surfaced after the lake was placed under a blue-green algae warning. Exposure to neurotoxins in some strains of algae can mimic some symptoms of rabies.

Even more questions emerged Sunday morning when veterinarian Jessica Gernhard suggested in an online posting that, contrary to what county officials had said, no one was sure whether the cat had died, and no one had disposed of its remains.

“The cat went into an area where it may have died,” she wrote, “but it was a tight area, and it was not safe to remove the cat without getting a person exposed.

“We do see rabies in the area. So I recommended to not expose a person to get the cat tested. Sorry that it meant we couldn’t test the cat.”

To date, county health department officials have released no information to news media. They specifically declined requests to be interviewed Friday.

The department did post a cursory note on social media at 3:34 p.m. Thursday. But that note raised more questions than it answered. It also was posted to an account with just 227 followers, only a tiny fraction of whom actually would have seen it

County Administrator Tina Spencer emailed a copy of the posting to the Marion County Record after hours Thursday.

When the Record attempted to follow up first thing Friday, health department officials referred all questions to Spencer, but Spencer initially told the Record she knew no specifics.

Later, she said the cat had been found exhibiting aggression, confusion, and stilted movement July 9 in a residential area. She declined to identify the area.

“The animal was disposed of but was unable to be tested,” she wrote in an email.

Asked how the animal had been disposed of and why it could not be tested, Spencer replied: “Those details are not being released.”

State regulations require that any animal exhibiting “signs suggestive of rabies ... shall be euthanized, and the head or entire brain (including brainstem) shall be submitted for rabies testing.”

The original posting from the health department stated:

“A suspected rabies case in a feral (stray) cat has been identified near the Marion County Lake. Rabies is a deadly virus that affects the brain and nervous system of mammals, including humans.”

The post goes on to say that people should watch for signs of rabies in animals.

Signs include unprovoked aggression, excessive salivation, staggering and paralysis, difficulty swallowing, and unusual behavior.

Exposure to neurotoxins present in anabaena cyanobacteria (a strain of blue-green algae) include stumbling or falling, foaming at the mouth, tremors and seizures, convulsions, loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and excessive drooling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Algae effects are largely non-communicable, but animals, including people, can be exposed to rabies by being bitten or scratched by a rabid animal or by its saliva or brain tissue contacting broken skin, eyes, nose, or mouth.

People should avoid contact with wild or feral animals, keep pets up to date on rabies vaccinations, and report suspicious animal behavior or aggressive animals to the sheriff’s office at (620) 382-2144, the county health department's original notice stated.

People who think they have been exposed to rabies should immediately seek medical care and contact the health department at (620) 382-2550, it continued.

The Kansas Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, which performs testing for rabies, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Physician Don Hodson, who serves as county medical adviser, told the Record Friday night that he had not been informed of the situation.

While not mentioning the discovery, the Animal Health Center veterinary clinic of Marion posted on its social media account at 7:30 p.m. Thursday that it would be “doing a pop-up rabies vaccine booster clinic.”

The clinic was scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, and the notice offered a $10 discount to anyone presenting a screen shot of the social media ad.

Under the Kansas Open Records Act, the Record is making an urgent request for copies of all communication to or from county employees regarding the suspected rabies case.

A miscommunication resulted in an earlier version of this story incorrectly indicating that the cat had been discovered July 7 instead of July 9, meaning the county would have delayed reporting the case by two additional days. The Record apologizes for that error.

Last modified July 14, 2025

 

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