Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : Youth Is First Rabies Victim Since 1954

An 11-year-old Albany girl who became sick on a camping trip and died the next day was New York state’s first human rabies death since 1954, health officials have confirmed. It’s still not known how Kelly Ahrendt, who died July 14, contracted rabies. Tests on the sixth-grader’s brain tissue confirmed that the rabies virus caused her death from viral encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain, health officials said. State health officials confirmed a record 1,761 rabid animals during 1992 and have identified 1,632 so far this year.