Hmmm......

Rabies concern at softball event

STEVE LYTTLE

[email protected]

At least four Charlotte-area girls' softball teams are thought to have played in a tournament earlier this month where some players and spectators might have been exposed to a rabid kitten.

Health officials in the Carolinas, Tennessee and Georgia are asking players, coaches and others who attended the South Atlantic Summer Showdown Tournament, played July 13-15 in Spartanburg County, to check with authorities.

The exposure would have happened at only two of the sites where tournament games were played -- the Boiling Springs (S.C.) Recreational Facility, and the North Spartanburg Recreational Facility.

According to tournament news releases, teams competing in the event included three teams based in Charlotte -- the Carolina Curve (18-younger team), the Carolina Bombshells (16-younger team), and the Lady Blues (16-younger). Also scheduled to participate was the Denver Dazzle Gold (18-younger), which is based in the Lincoln County town of Denver but includes players from several counties.

According to a news release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the exposure would have occured July 14.

Someone at the tournament found a gray kitten in a trash bin at the Boiling Springs softball complex. The kitten was taken later that day to games at the North Spartanburg complex.

Members of a team from the Asheville area took the kitten back home with them, but the kitten was put down July 15 after it became sick. A test showed that the kitten had the rabies virus.

Health officials said only people who were at those two South Carolina facilities were potentially exposed to the disease, which is transmitted through bites or saliva.

Rabies is a potentially fatal disease which affects the central nervous system.

Public health officials also want to find the person who dumped the cat and anyone who may have been exposed to rabies. People with information are asked to call the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's regional office at 864-282-

 

Been there / done that gottalaff.

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