Teens At Risk After Skunk Prank Dead Skunk Put In Car HOPKINTON, Mass. --
School officials are worried that several teens in this town are at risk for rabies after putting a dead skunk in a car as part of a prank last week. School department official said four teens -- the prank victim and three others -- have visited doctors since they issued a warning to any student who handled the skunk. But they're looking for others. "It is not our intent to 'catch' the culprit(s), but only to be sure that the person(s) involved talk with a doctor," the letter from Hopkinton High School Principal Dorothy Gould said.
Gould told the MetroWest Daily News that police sent the skunk out for rabies testing, but the body was too decomposed and the results were inconclusive. When rabies testing can't provide conclusive results, experts often recommend that people get rabies shots as a preventive measure, said school nurse Adria Pavletic. Pavletic said rabies is epidemic among the Massachusetts skunk population. The disease spreads through saliva or contact with the animal's brain or spinal cord. "The issue we had at the school is that we are unsure who among the students has been exposed to rabies, so it becomes a public health concern," she said. Pavletic, who spoke with the prank victim, said that he and a friend discovered the skunk in the car after a party last Friday and dragged it out using a stick and a plastic bag. They then threw the skunk into a plastic bag and into the woods.
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