In Vietnam, Rabies on the Rise from Dog Diet

According to news reports, rabies is on the rise in Vietnam because of the number of stray dogs and the tendency of villagers to eat dog meat.

According to the New York Times story:

In parts of Vietnam, according to the national government, only one dog out of 25 is vaccinated, and there is a regular cross-country trade in dogs for the table. (Raising dogs for meat is popular in many countries, especially in southeast Asia and West Africa.)

A study in the journal PLoS Medicine last year described the deaths of two rabies patients in Vietnamese hospitals. Neither had been bitten, but one had cut up and cooked a dog killed in a traffic accident, while the other had eaten a sick cat.

Last year, according to Science Daily,

In Asia, it is believed that eating dog meat enhances health and longevity. It is eaten throughout the year in the second half of the lunar month, particularly in the winter months, when it is believed to increase body heat.

In Viet Nam, dogs with rabies have been detected in dog slaughterhouses and workers at dog slaughterhouses are vaccinated against rabies as part of the national programme for rabies control and prevention. However, the private slaughter of dogs is relatively common in the country.

"We need to alert both the general public and clinicians about the risks around butchering and handling meat," says Dr Wertheim. "People should not handle animals that may be infected with rabies. Rabies can be prevented with a vaccine and people exposed to rabies can be helped with post-exposure prophylaxis, but this needs to be administered as quickly as possible following the exposure. Once a person shows symptoms, the disease is almost invariably fatal.

"Vietnamese doctors already consider dog slaughtering to be a risk factor for rabies transmission, but it is important that other health care workers and policy makers, both in- and outside Vietnam, are aware of this risk factor."

Rabid Bats Kill at least 5 Children in Peru

This is a TRULY awful rabies story that happened this week. At least five children have been killed but the total deaths from this outbreak has been 20 villagers in a region 600 miles north of Lima, near the border with Ecuador, over the past several months. Full totals are difficult because families often do not allow autopsies.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Communities in this part of the remote jungle are often affected by outbreaks of attack by blood-sucking bats, reports Peru's La Jornada. This outbreak of rabies has been confirmed by the capture of several bats infected by rabies, they reported earlier today.

Rabies is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain in warm-blooded animals. It is usually fatal in unvaccinated people unless treated straight away. The virus is usually transmitted via bites from infected animals.

A local health official told the press that about 3,500 people have been bitten by vampire bats in the two communities so far this year.

He said this number was likely to rise because of the difficulties and the cost of trying to get vaccines to these remote areas.

Fernando Borjas, a doctor in the regional health directorate, said the outbreak started several months ago, and that it can take up to 15 hours by river to reach the remote jungle communities, by which time it is often too late to vaccinate people.

According to the UK's Daily Telegraph, Borjas said "we cannot get them the vaccines quickly enough because the communities are so remote".

He said the bats feed at night, and when they don't find large animals to feed on, they bite unprotected people.

Some reports suggest the bats are turning to humans for food because their rainforest habitats are disappearing; there are also reports that the local people say the temperatures in recent years have been unusually low in the Amazon region and that could also be a reason.

Borjas said Peru's health ministry have been sending emergency teams to the region and so far around 900 people have been immunized. But there are still thousands without vaccine, and some people have refused to be treated.

Other sources reported by Noticias24 suggest that some communities are also failing to protect themselves with mosquito nets, which are thought to be a simple way to stop the bats from biting.

Sources: Telegraph, BBC, La Jornada, Noticias24.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today