- For additional information: Rabies in Canada
Rabies Surveillance as of July 21st, 2021
As reported by the Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry:
We are reporting one new case of rabies detected in a raccoon (Niagara) last week (July 21, 2021).
Our rabies lab will continue to test priority samples as a provincial essential service.
We are currently at 487 cases of raccoon strain, and 21 cases of fox strain rabies in Ontario to date.
NOTE: Maps have been updated to reflect the current status of the outbreak and the reduction in the active control zone where baiting occurs. Map symbology has also been updated to illustrate expired cases (> 2 years old, outside of the current control zone) versus active cases (<2 years old, within the current control zone).
Annual Summaries
Numbers in red in all tables are fox strain.
Numbers in black in all tables are raccoon strain.
2021
County Raccoon Skunk Fox Cat Bovine Dog Total Brant 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Haldimand 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Halton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hamilton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Huron 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Niagara 0 7 0 0 0 0 7 Norfolk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Perth 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Waterloo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Waterloo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 Total Fox Strain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total Raccoon Strain 0 7 0 0 0 0
7 Number of DRIT tests: 1,440
Number of baits distributed: >33,700
Annual Summaries
This marks the end of the calendar year for MNRF’s rabies program. In 2020, there were 9 raccoon strain and 0 fox strain rabies cases detected in southern Ontario, a ~60% decrease in rabies cases from 2019. In 2020, we tested 3,358 samples for rabies. Surveillance of this scale, especially this year, would not be possible without our partners – your on-going support and collaboration is much appreciated and is critical to the continuing success of rabies control efforts in the province.
Numbers in red in all tables are fox strain.
Numbers in black in all tables are raccoon strain.
2020
| County | Raccoon | Skunk | Fox | Cat | Bovine | Dog | Total |
| Brant | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Haldimand | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Halton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamilton | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Huron | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Niagara | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Norfolk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Number of DRIT tests: 575
Number of baits distributed: 0
Number of confirmatory tests performed by CFIA (Ontario only, including bats): 1
Number of confirmatory test performed by CFIA (Ontario only, terrestrial animals only): 0
Number of rabies positive terrestrial animals subject to virus variant typing by CFIA (Ontario only): 0
2019
| County | Raccoon | Skunk | Fox | Cat | Bovine | Dog | Total |
| Brant | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Haldimand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Halton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamilton | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Huron | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Niagara | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Norfolk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 9 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 22 |
Number of DRIT tests: >1900
Number of baits distributed: 0
Number of confirmatory tests performed by CFIA (Ontario only): 13
Number of rabies positive terrestrial animals subject to virus variant typing by CFIA (Ontario only): 11
2018
| County | Raccoon | Skunk | Fox | Cat | Bovine | Total |
| Brant | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Haldimand | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Halton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hamilton | 29 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Huron | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Niagara | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Norfolk | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Perth | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 50 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 |
Number of DRIT tests: >3,800
Number of baits distributed: 1,444,161
Number of confirmatory tests performed by CFIA (Ontario only): 81
Number of rabies positive terrestrial animals subject to virus variant typing by CFIA (Ontario only): 74
2017
| County | Raccoon | Skunk | Fox | Cat | Bovine | Total |
| Brant | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Haldimand | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Halton | 8 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Hamilton | 45 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 65 |
| Huron | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Niagara | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Perth | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Waterloo | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 86 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 119 |
Number of DRIT tests: >4,000
Number of baits distributed: >1.1M
Number of confirmatory tests performed by CFIA (Ontario only): 138
Number of rabies positive terrestrial animals subject to virus variant typing by CFIA (Ontario only): 127
2016
| County | Raccoon | Skunk | Fox | Cat | Llama | Bovine | Total |
| Brant | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Haldimand | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| Halton | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Hamilton | 126 | 76 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 204 |
| Huron | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Niagara | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| Perth | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 171 | 81 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 255 |
Number of DRIT tests: >4,500
Number of baits distributed: >1.6 million
2015 (December only)
| County | Raccoon | Bovine | Total |
| Haldimand | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hamilton | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Perth | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total Fox Strain | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total Raccoon Strain | 10 | 0 | 10 |
Number of DRIT tests: >150
Number of baits distributed: ~220,000
