In the next 5mins, at least one person will die from rabies. There is a good chance that the person will be a child. Let’s imagine he is a boy. He will almost certainly be from Africa or Asia and there is little chance he will have access to palliative care which might have made his hour less anguished. Instead, he might be whipped to a bed or locked in room until death releases him. To die of rabies is a tortuous exit and not a gradual slipping from the world, death is almost certain. Rabies is 99.9% fatal, the highest fatality rate of any known disease. However, it is also preventable through vaccination.
Today, September 28th is World Rabies Day. World Rabies Day is an international campaign coordinated by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, a non-profit organisation with headquarters in the United States and the United Kingdom. World Rabies Day was officially launched in 2007, and aim to create awareness about the public health impact of human and animal rabies. World Rabies Day is the only global education and awareness campaign for rabies. It encourages people to get involved, be informed and stay safe an healthy by organising or participating in an event in their community.
Rabies, one of the most well known of all the viruses, is a neglected zoonotic disease (a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans), caused by the rabies virus of the genus Lyssavirus. It causes acute inflammation of the brain in human and other warm-blooded animals which might eventually leads to death. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache and general weakness. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, paralysis, confusion, hypersalivation, hallucination, difficulty swallowing and hydrophobia.
Transmission of the disease is almost always through a bite from a rabid animals like Foxes, Bats, Raccoons etc. Humans, Cats and dogs are only mildly susceptible to the disease. People that work closely with wildlife, veterinaries and travellers are at the highest risk of exposure but, fortunately, there is a vaccine that is available to protect them.
The virus is relatively slow moving and the average time of incubation from exposure to brain involvement is between 3-8weeks in dogs, 2-8weeks in cats and 3-6weeks in humans. After the virus reaches the brain, it will then move to the salivary gland where it can be spread through a bite. The current way to diagnose rabies in animals is to submit the brain for microscopic examination.
There is no treatment. Once the disease develops in human, death is almost certain. Vaccination is the best way to prevent the infection and properly vaccinated animals stand very little chance of contracting the disease. The standard vaccination protocol is to vaccinate dogs and cats at 3 or 4 months and then again at one year of age. A year later, a 3-year rabies vaccination is recommended. Vaccination of dogs would eliminate greater than 98% of the rabies health burden globally. There is also a series of vaccines that can be used to vaccinate people at high risk.
Anybody bitten by an animal should wash the wound thoroughly with soap, water and povidone iodine or alcohol and seek medical assistance immediately. The wound should be washed to reduce the number of viral particles and maybe somewhat effective at preventing transmission.
Bringing an end to rabies starts with people. Stopping the spread of rabies doesn’t start with dogs and in fact, it doesn’t even start with a rabies vaccine. Vaccines combined with targeted campaigns offer an easy choice.
In celebration of World Rabies Day, let us remember that the opportunity to end rabies is ours. The more people know the facts about rabies, the more influence we can collectively have on eradicating the disease. Support it by spreading the word to your colleagues, families and friends. The choice to end rabies is yours and mine.
Please get involve. Let’s end rabies together!
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