Peachtree City kid bit by rabid fox treated in time

Amanda* (name changed) has one more round of shots to take her thirteen-year-old son to before he is fully clear of rabies, after he was bit by a rabid fox two weeks ago. 

Amanda her two teens who encountered the fox live off Log House Road in Peachtree City, “It wasn’t just my neighborhood. I mean, it was seen and encountered in several surrounding neighborhoods on Log House Road,” she said. 

Her family first encountered the fox while she was driving home from her fifteen-year-old daughter’s cheerleading practice. “It ran from our neighborhood across the road up towards the ball fields. And so I was like, ‘That seems a little strange, 2:30 in the afternoon.’ That was my first visual of the fox.”

It was a Wednesday evening at about 7 p.m. when the fox attacked. “We were getting groceries unloaded from the car, and my son was outside with the dogs. My daughter was helping me put up the groceries, and then she just started screaming and hollering, and she tears out the back door to get the dogs. According to my son, the fox came out from underneath one of the cars. 

“I think the dog saw it first and alerted him to the situation. And then my daughter saw the fox, and so she ran out to try and shuffle the dogs in, and my son’s following behind. And then that’s when the fox was literally on his heels nipping and biting at him.”

Even though teenagers move fast, they weren’t fast enough to avoid getting bit on the calf by the fox. “He’s agile, he’s a pretty quick kid, but everything just happened so fast,” said Amanda. “He was bleeding.”

The fox left Amanda’s yard, but she was still worried. The bite wasn’t severe enough to need stitches, but Amanda was concerned about rabies, so she took her son to urgent care, who directed her to the ER. The protocol was five shots on day one, and back for more on days 3, 7, and 14, which is this Thursday. “Just to be safe, let’s go and do this,” she said. Besides the full rabies protocol, they also gave him an antibiotic. 

At first, she treated her son, not knowing whether the fox had rabies, but she put her experience into her neighborhood Facebook group, and others were coming back with similar sightings, although no one else had gotten bit. Soon, a neighbor said they found a dead fox in their backyard. 

“DNR was involved, and the animal control and animal control contacted me, and then they sent it up to the lab for testing. And the lab confirmed that the fox was positive for rabies,” said Amanda. 

About her son, Amanda said, “Hopefully he’ll be protected for life.”

“We saw a fox in the daytime and it was definitely aggressive towards us. So my instincts were like, okay, this animal’s probably not safe,” said Amanda

What about her dogs? Amanda and the kids didn’t find any injury on them, but two Boston Terriers had also been vaccinated for rabies, so they are covered, too.  

DNR and Animal Control both want to remind local people that all pets are required by law to be vaccinated for rabies. It could save their life. It could save yours. 

Amanda looked up rabies after all this. “My own readings, it can be swift or it can take a while for any kind of symptoms to show. But I know the survival rate is 1%. If you as a human being, contract rabies and you’re not treated, there’s a 1% survival rate.”

Amanda said, “We’re grateful to just our surrounding neighbors for just between Facebook posts, and one neighbor actually called the mayor and contacted the city manager. This is what’s going on, this is what has happened. So I feel like our neighborhood community came together and were able to get it out of here.”

Article edited 8/7 to reflect that rabid animals are tested at the state Georgia Public Health Laboratory not the CDC.