|
US free of canine rabies
07/09/2007 17:44 - (SA)
Washington - Federal health experts
declared a small victory against a fatal and untreatable virus
on Friday, saying canine rabies has disappeared from the United
States.
While dogs may still become infected from raccoons, skunks
or bats, they will not catch dog-specific rabies from another
dog, the Atlanta-based US Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention said.
"We don't want to misconstrue that rabies has been
eliminated - dog rabies virus has been," said CDC rabies expert, Dr
Charles Rupprecht.
Rabies evolves to match the animals it infects, and the
strain most specific to dogs has not been seen anywhere in the
United States since 2004, Rupprecht said.
While the incubation period for rabies is as long as six
years in humans, it is only six months in a dog.
"Even though we still live in a sea of rabies and even
though we have rabies viruses circulating among raccoons and
foxes and bats, the dog rabies virus, which is the most
responsible for dog-to-dog transmission and which is still the
greatest burden to humans ... it is that virus that has been
eliminated."
55 000 dead a year
Rabies kills 55 000 people a year globally, according to
the World Health Organisation. It is easily prevented with a
vaccine, but many people do not realise they have been infected
and once symptoms begin to show, it is almost impossible to
treat.
Only one person - a Wisconsin girl who was put into an
intentional coma in 2004 - has ever been known to have
survived rabies infection.
Mandatory vaccination has created what is known as herd
immunity in US dogs, Rupprecht said, and it will be vital to
continue this to protect dogs - and people - from the virus.
"The elimination of canine rabies in the United States
represents one of the major public health success stories in
the last 50 years," CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said in a
statement.
"However, there is still much work to be done to prevent
and control rabies globally."
Canine rabies is still very common in many countries,
including much of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, India,
China, the Philippines and elsewhere.
Some island nations such as Japan, New Zealand, Barbados,
Fiji, Maldives, and Seychelles are rabies-free.
Greece, Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Uruguay and Chile are
also free of rabies.
|
