South Carolina Health officials are still trying to track down anyone who might have been exposed to a rabid kitten at a softball tournament -- and 11 people have already begun post-exposure inoculations.
Ten people in North Carolina are being treated for possible rabies exposure. A child in Spartanburg County, S.C., is also being treated.
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control officials are warning girls from four states who participated in a softball tournament of possible exposure to rabies. The exposure happened at the South Atlantic Summer Showdown softball tournament in Spartanburg County on July 14.
The games were played at the Boiling Springs recreational facility and the North Spartanburg recreational facility.
Health officials said that after the coach took the kitten home, it began acting strangely. The kitten was euthanized on July 15, and tests performed at the North Carolina State Public Health Laboratory confirmed that the kitten had rabies.
The health department has not been able to reach everyone who may have been exposed, so department officials are asking anyone who may have been licked, scratched or bitten by the kitten to call them at 864-282-4144.
Buncombe County Public Health spokeswoman Sue Ellen Morrison said, "The virus is in saliva, so if they had a bite or what we call a mucus membrane contact -- the saliva rubbed in their eyes or (if) it got in their mouth."
The Department of Health and Environmental Control officials also would like to talk with the person who put the kitten in the Dumpster because of their possible exposure to the disease.
Wednesday, Watson told WYFF News 4, "If I had it to do again, I don't know if I would leave it. But I would definitely be more careful of who was around it and that kind of thing."
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