Johannesburg – It’s a myth that rabies only affects animals – especially dogs.
It can kill humans too.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) has urged South Africans to have their pets vaccinated as soon as possible.
The NICD reports that every nine to 10 minutes someone dies of rabies worldwide and between 24 000 and 70 000 human deaths are recorded in Africa alone.
The institute said some provinces in South Africa were facing canine rabies outbreaks.
According to their report, the central site of the outbreak is KwaZulu-Natal, mostly the eThekwini metropolitan municipality, which includes Durban and the King Cetshwayo district municipality.
There have also been outbreaks recorded in Eastern Cape.
“More than 200 dogs had tested positive for rabies since September. Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City metropolitan municipalities have more than 150 cases reported in the province,” reads their report, stating that an eight-year-old boy from Gqeberha was bitten in an unprovoked attack by a stray dog, sustaining multiple bite wounds on his arm.
But because the child was not immediately taken to a health facility and did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis, he died the day after being admitted to hospital. In April, WHO’s rabies bulletin reported two fatal cases of rabies in South Africa.
All these cases involved boys younger than 10. Tarryn Dent, the business unit manager for companion animals at Zoetis South Africa, a global animal health company, said each year it saw new cases, often affecting children.
“Children are particularly at risk due to their close contact with dogs and are more likely to suffer multiple bites, which impose a higher risk of contracting rabies.
The heartbreak with rabies is that it’s fatal for humans and animals once symptoms appear and yet it is completely preventable with a vaccine,” she said.
She said that rabies was a serious viral illness that could affect any warm-blooded animal and people could also become infected.
“In South Africa, rabies is an endemic disease, which means many species of animals are carriers, from honey badgers, meerkats and mongooses to both feral and domestic cats and dogs.
With so many roaming animals in urban centres, the risk is even higher.
The rabies virus is present in high concentrations in the saliva of affected animals and transmitted from close contact with an infected animal.
Bites, scratches or even licks on broken skin and mucous membranes can transmit the virus.
“Once an animal or human is bitten by a rabid animal, it replicates in the muscle before travelling up the nerves to the spine and brain, causing inflammation of the brain (encephalitis).
“The incubation period is quite variable but the average time is three to six weeks,” she said.
Dent said dramatic behavioural alterations, such as wild animals losing their fear of humans, could be an indication of infection.
In humans, the early symptoms of rabies are non-specific, and may include fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, agitation, anxiety, and confusion, followed by rapid progression of nervous signs, sleepiness or agitation.
To read more news and views from this week’s newspaper, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
