People who attended a puppy adoption event in Englewood and their pets may need preventive shots after one of the dogs at the event tested positive for rabies.

The event took place July 20 at Moms and Mutts Colorado Rescue for Pregnant and Nursing Dogs at 2721 W. Oxford Ave. Suite 7 in Englewood. The puppy with rabies, which had arrived from Texas, was euthanized, as that is the only way to test for the disease in animals.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Friday asked anyone who attended the event to call its hotline, 303-692-2700, to assess whether they could be at risk. The after-hours number is 303-370-9395, or people could email cdphe_zoonoses@state.co.us.

The infected puppy was part of a litter of shepherd-mix dogs, which organizers labeled the “Celebrity Kids” litter. Rabies can spread if a dog licks or scratches a human or other animal, so people who interacted with the shepherd-mix dogs may need a series of shots to prevent infection.

Rabies shots are only effective before someone develops symptoms. While a few people in history may have survived rabies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider the virus universally fatal once someone gets sick.

Vaccinated animals that interacted with the infected litter should get a rabies booster. Unfortunately, nothing like human rabies prevention shots exists for dogs, so unvaccinated animals that were exposed, including the 11 other puppies in the litter, have to be euthanized.

The last time Colorado recorded a canine rabies infection was in 2020, though wild animals such as bats test positive every year. The last human case in the state was in 1931, according to the health department.

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Originally Published: August 9, 2024 at 4:52 p.m.