My active puppy Bixie suddenly stopped eating and started sleeping unusually. It found it hard to stand up especially the hind legs. When it walked it would stagger. I called my friend who happened to be a vet. When he examined it he told me that Bixie had paralytic rabies. On close examination we found bite marks on its skin, probably by a wild cat. I was told Bixie was too young to be vaccinated against rabies at 2 months when I got her untill she was 6 months old, but she took shots against Parvovirus, Distemper and Leptospira. Although I have been hearing of Rabies, I thought that most of the stories about it were exergerated. I decided to do research Online on Rabies and what I found was really shocking. Once the virus takes hold of its victim whether human or animal, THERE IS NO CURE. [size=18pt]Rabies
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Fact Sheet
Updated March 2016
Key facts
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories.
Dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans.
Rabies elimination is feasible by vaccinating dogs.
Infection causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mostly in Asia and Africa.
40% of people who are bitten by suspect rabid animals are children under 15 years of age.
Immediate wound cleansing with soap and water after contact with a suspect rabid animal can be life-saving.
Every year, more than 15 million people worldwide receive a post-bite vaccination. This is estimated to prevent hundreds of thousands of rabies deaths annually.
Rabies is an infectious viral disease that is almost always fatal following the onset of clinical signs. In up to 99% of human cases, the rabies virus is transmitted by domestic dogs. Rabies affects domestic and wild animals, and is spread to people through bites or scratches, usually via saliva.
Rabies is present on all continents with the exception of Antarctica, but more than 95% of human deaths occur in Asia and Africa.
Rabies is a neglected disease of poor and vulnerable populations whose deaths are rarely reported and where human vaccines and immunoglobulin are not readily available or accessible. It occurs mainly in remote rural communities where children between the age of 5–14 years are frequent victims.
The average cost of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) can be the cost of catastrophic expenses for poor populations, since a course of PEP can cost US$ 40 in Africa and US$ 49 in Asia, where the average daily income is about US$ 1–2 per person.
Prevention
Eliminating rabies in dogs
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable disease. Vaccinating dogs is the most cost-effective strategy for preventing rabies in people. Dog vaccination will drive down not only the deaths attributable to rabies but also the need for PEP as a part of dog bite patient care.
Preventive immunization in people
The same safe and effective vaccines can be used for pre-exposure immunization. This is recommended for travellers spending a lot of time outdoors, especially in rural areas, involved in activities such as bicycling, camping, or hiking as well as for long-term travellers and expatriates living in areas with a significant risk of exposure to dog bites.
Pre-exposure immunization is also recommended for people in certain high-risk occupations such as laboratory workers dealing with live rabies virus and other rabies-related viruses (lyssaviruses), and people involved in any activities that might bring them professionally or otherwise into direct contact with bats, carnivores, and other mammals in rabies-affected areas. As children are considered at higher risk because they tend to play with animals, may receive more severe bites, or may not report bites, their immunization could be considered if living in or visiting high-risk areas.
Symptoms
The incubation period for rabies is typically 1–3 months, but may vary from <1 week to >1 year, dependent upon factors such as location of rabies entry and rabies viral load. The initial symptoms of rabies are fever and often pain or an unusual or unexplained tingling, pricking or burning sensation (paraesthesia) at the wound site. As the virus spreads through the central nervous system, progressive, fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord develops.
Two forms of the disease can follow. People with furious rabies exhibit signs of hyperactivity, excited behaviour, hydrophobia (fear of water) and sometimes aerophobia (fear of flying). After a few days, death occurs by cardiorespiratory arrest.
Paralytic rabies accounts for about 30% of the total number of human cases. This form of rabies runs a less dramatic and usually longer course than the furious form. The muscles gradually become paralyzed, starting at the site of the bite or scratch. A coma slowly develops, and eventually death occurs. The paralytic form of rabies is often misdiagnosed, contributing to the under-reporting of the disease.
Diagnosis
No tests are available to diagnose rabies infection in humans before the onset of clinical disease, and unless the rabies-specific signs of hydrophobia or aerophobia are present, the clinical diagnosis may be difficult. Human rabies can be confirmed intra-vitam and post mortem by various diagnostic techniques aimed at detecting whole virus, viral antigens or nucleic acids in infected tissues (brain, skin, urine or saliva).
Transmission
People are usually infected following a deep bite or scratch by an infected animal. Dogs are the main host and transmitter of rabies. They are the cause of human rabies deaths in Asia and Africa in more than 95% of all cases.
Bats are the source of most human rabies deaths in the Americas. Bat rabies has also recently emerged as a public health threat in Australia and western Europe. Human deaths following exposure to foxes, raccoons, skunks, jackals, mongooses and other wild carnivore host species are very rare.
Transmission can also occur when infectious material – usually saliva – comes into direct contact with human mucosa or fresh skin wounds. Human-to-human transmission by bite is theoretically possible but has never been confirmed.
Rarely, rabies may be contracted by inhalation of virus-containing aerosol or via transplantation of an infected organ. Ingestion of raw meat or other tissues from animals infected with rabies is not a confirmed source of human infection.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP)
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) means the treatment of a bite victim that is started immediately after exposure to rabies in order to prevent rabies from entering the central nervous system which would result in imminent death. This consists of:
local treatment of the wound, initiated as soon as possible after exposure;
a course of potent and effective rabies vaccine that meets WHO standards; and
the administration of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG), if indicated.
Effective treatment soon after exposure to rabies can prevent the onset of symptoms and death.
Local treatment of the wound
This involves first-aid of the wound that includes immediate and thorough flushing and washing of the wound for a minimum of 15 minutes with soap and water, detergent, povidone iodine or other substances that kill the rabies virus. Source http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/Spread the word. Vaccinate your pets against Rabies. cc Seun |
