A rabies specimen is irreplaceable. The following instructions are designed to assist you in preparing and packaging your specimen for shipment to the laboratory for examination. Please prepare and pack your specimen carefully! Specimens that decompose in transit are not suitable for testing.
- A live animal will not be accepted by the laboratory.
- The Arkansas Public Health laboratory will only accept the heads or brains of animals for rabies testing, except for very small mammals such as bats, mice, squirrels, etc., which should be sent in whole. Anything the size of your hand or smaller does not need to have the head removed.
- Livestock and/or farm animals must have their brain removed prior to submission. The Arkansas Department of Health does not have the facilities to dispose of entire carcasses of livestock heads
Handling and Shipping Specimens
The Arkansas Department of Health Laboratory has assembled shipping containers consisting of plastic buckets with lids and Styrofoam insulation, leak-proof zip lock bags, and cold packs with a cardboard surround for use in packaging and transporting the specimen to the rabies laboratory. These shipping containers are provided to every county’s Local Health Unit. Each county Local Health Unit also has a courier that will bring the specimen to the Public Health Laboratory in Little Rock at no charge.
The head of the animal must be removed without damaging the brain (see Preparation of Rabies Specimen document), preferably by a trained person such as a veterinarian or animal control officer. The person removing the head must protect themselves during the head removal process so they do not get any contact with animal fluids. Place the specimen in the leak-proof, zip-lock bag provided in the shipping container. Chill the specimen in a refrigerator prior to packaging for shipment. It is extremely important that the specimen remains cool until it arrives at the laboratory. Cooling the specimen prior to shipment helps slow down decomposition. Advanced specimen decomposition prevents laboratory detection of the rabies virus.
Immediately before shipment, place the chilled specimen and at least two (2) cold packs (ice substitutes – do not use wet or dry ice) inside the Styrofoam insulator in the plastic shipping container and place the lid on the Styrofoam bucket. The completed rabies examination form (HL-12) should be placed on top of the Styrofoam lid. Do not place the form inside the Styrofoam container with the specimen. Seal the plastic shipping container with a plastic lid. For large specimens, it is advisable to use more than two cold packs. Place your return address label and the Arkansas Department of Health address label on the plastic shipping container before transporting. Deliver the specimen to your county’s local health unit as soon as possible. Alternatively, the specimen can be shipped using FedEx’s next-day delivery.
If you have questions concerning the care of bitten humans, immunization, and quarantine of animals, call the State Public Health Veterinarian at 501-280-4136, or after normal working hours, call the Emergency Communications Center at (800) 633-1735.
