World Rabies Day: Stop rabies in its tracks
In June 2024, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture confirmed that the recent spate of aggressive Cape fur seals was indeed the result of a rabies outbreak. These incidents of seals behaving aggressively towards beachgoers, surfers, swimmers, divers and other water sports enthusiasts, span from Blouberg in Cape Town, all the way along the Garden Route and to Plettenberg Bay in the Eastern Cape. The relevant authorities continue to warn people to never approach seals on land, and people walking their dogs are urged to keep their pets leashed and to prevent any contact with a potentially rabid animal.
With a rabies outbreak in the wild occurring in habitats we share with wild animals, it raises the necessity for better rabies awareness, especially of the seriousness of this disease. This article serves to educate pet owners on what rabies is, what puts pets and people at risk of rabies infection, what to do if your pet is bitten by a potentially rabid animal, and what to do if you or someone you know is bitten by a suspected rabid animal.
What is rabies?
The Rabies lyssavirus is a pathogenic virus that attacks the nervous system, causes brain inflammation and leads to rabies – the deadliest disease in mammals, with a near-100% mortality rate in humans. In South Africa, the most common animal vectors (carriers) of rabies include dogs and cats, badgers, bat-eared foxes, bats, monkeys, mongooses and now seals. Small rodents are unlikely to carry rabies because when they are bitten by larger rabid animals, they’re more likely to die from fatal trauma than to contract rabies.
The danger of rabies is that it’s a zoonotic disease and humans can also be infected by rabid animals. There are post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) treatments that are given to bite victims who may have been exposed to the rabies virus before they begin to show symptoms. However, after they become symptomatic, the disease is considered to be fatal. There are very few survivors of symptomatic rabies, and none without neurological side-effects.
How do pets and people get rabies?
When the rabies virus finds a new host, it makes its way along the central nervous system and into the brain, disrupting neurons, which is why rabies victims show uncharacteristic behaviour. They also salivate excessively – the virus is shed via saliva, which means rabies can be transmitted without a bite. Even if a rabid animal licks the wound of another animal or person, or their saliva ends up on broken skin or on the mucus membranes, the virus can be transmitted.
The host foams at the mouth, displays aggressive behaviour and attempts to bite anything and everything in its path. The animal (or person) becomes hydrophobic – they are so afraid of water that their throat muscles spasm painfully if water is brought near to them. The reason for this is to stop the host from drinking liquids, which will wash away the viral load in the saliva and prevent it from finding its way into another host. Scarily, rabies is classed as a ‘behaviour-altering parasite’, which means that the rabies virus itself changes the behaviour of the host in order to suit its own agenda, which is finding other hosts.
Symptoms of rabies
The rabies virus targets the central nervous system and the brain, causing inflammation, which can have neurological effects on the animal or person, such as:
- sudden and unexplained changes in behaviour (a sociable animal becomes unsociable, or vice versa)
- wild animals losing their fear of humans
- excitability
- aggression
- confusion/lack of coordination
- twitching
- seizures
- fever
- vomiting & diarrhoea
- excess salivation
- inability to swallow
Rabies can present as ‘furious rabies’ – the biting, salivating, aggressive type; or it can present as ‘dumb rabies’, which is more passive and includes symptoms like:
- seeking solitude
- paralysis of jaw muscles – lower jaw droops down
- paralysis of the throat – unable to swallow
- progression of paralysis to the rest of the body
Animals at risk of contracting rabies
If a dog or cat comes close to a rabies vector, they are at risk of contracting the disease. Dogs may be very curious about a wild animal that suddenly appears in their yard or approaches while out on a walk, and they may be bitten when they go to investigate. Unless the dog’s rabies vaccination schedule is up to date, they are at very serious risk of contracting rabies, which puts their family and any other humans that come in contact with the dog at risk of rabies. If your pet’s rabies vaccinations are up to date, they might be exposed to rabies through a bite from a wild animal or stray dog, but they have the immune antibodies to fight the disease. Although, even if you’re up to date with your pet’s rabies shots, you must still take them to the vet for a check-up and to inform the vet of the incident.
Pets who do not have any defence against rabies may start to show symptoms of the disease after around three to 12 weeks. When this happens, the pet will either die or need to be euthanised.
There are communities in which vaccination rates are low or pet owners do not have access to vaccines – these pets are most at risk of contracting rabies. It is mandatory for all pets to be vaccinated against rabies, but despite this, there are still pockets of rabies cases in some South African provinces. The government has committed to eradicating human deaths by canine rabies by 2030 in spite of the shortage of resources and access to all pets who need concurrent vaccines and boosters.
Many stray dogs are not vaccinated against rabies, which poses a huge risk to other unvaccinated dogs as well as innocent children playing outdoors. Achieving the rabies vaccination mandate will take a huge community commitment.
What to do if you think your dog has taken a rabies bite
Rabies cannot be tested for while the host animal is still alive – a brain matter sample, which can only be taken post-mortem, is required to confirm rabies infection. If you think your pet has been bitten by a rabies-infected animal, take them to the vet immediately. Your pet will be placed in isolation to see if they develop the clinical symptoms of rabies. If they do, unfortunately your pet’s only option is humane euthanasia.
If rabies symptoms do not develop, the vet will examine your pet and give the all-clear before they can go home.
Preventing rabies infection in pets
There are a number of ways to ensure your pets do not contract rabies:
Vaccination
Vaccinating your pets against rabies is the law, but it’s also the easiest way to keep your pets protected against this disease. Be sure to follow the necessary schedule and keep your pets’ shots up to date:
- puppies and kittens’ first vaccine: three months of age
- puppies and kittens’ second vaccine: 12 months of age
- dogs and cats’ booster vaccines: every 12 months or every 36 months, depending on the manufacturer’s label
Pet vaccines are two-fold: they protect your pets against rabies infection and they protect you and your family. If every pet owner vaccinated their pets, there would eventually be no more rabies deaths.
Keep your pets securely fenced on your property
There are stray dogs in both urban and rural areas, and wild animals are often found wandering in rural and farm environments. Keeping your pets securely within your property will ensure that they are not inadvertently exposed to disease – especially rabies. Most cats are natural wanderers and many pet owners say they cannot keep their cats confined indoors. Aside from diseases, wandering cats are exposed to injury and infection from cat fights, the risk of traumatic injury from traffic, the risk of attack by dogs, or of being stolen or picked up as a perceived stray.
If you walk your dog in public, keep them on a leash to minimise the chances of an altercation with unknown animals and with pets with an unknown vaccination status.
Report stray animals
While it’s noble to rescue stray animals, this can also be dangerous, especially if you are unable to tell whether they may be infected with rabies. It’s even more dangerous to ignore stray animals, so if you can do so safely, take strays to the closest vet, animal rescue organisation or SPCA, or call a rescue organisation and confirm the stray’s location. The safe collection of strays reduces the risk of rabies infection – to the stray as well as to a potential child victim of a stray dog bite.
What to do if you’ve been bitten by an animal that might have rabies
Every person on the front lines of animal care – from veterinarians, vet nurses, pet rescue staff and wildlife rehab staff, to animal inspectors and others – should be vaccinated against rabies (with a pre-exposure prophylactic) just in case.
After a bite from a potentially rabid animal, you will need medical attention that begins with a risk assessment to determine whether you need post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The only way to definitively tell if an animal has rabies is with a brain sample after they have died. However, if a confirmation with laboratory results cannot be immediately obtained, it’s better to err on the side of caution and get the PEP. The risk assessment will weigh up the animal’s abnormal behaviour, geographical location and whether the skin was broken during the bite, with the likelihood of rabies transmission.
The doctor or nurse will need to wash the wound and administer the PEP, which includes:
- thoroughly cleaning and washing the bite wound (for 15 minutes under running water, then with soap, an antiseptic, an iodine-based disinfectant, or 70% alcohol – all of which can inactivate the rabies virus)
- administration of human-rabies immunoglobin (HRIG) – ONLY for those who have not received pre-exposure vaccination
- rabies vaccine in four doses – on days 0, 3, 7 and 14 after potential/exposure to rabies
In cases where neither wound care nor PEP are provided, rabies symptoms may appear a few days or weeks after the bite – if the animal was rabid. By the time rabies becomes symptomatic, it’s too late for treatment; the disease will be fatal. This is why it’s essential to get emergency medical care as soon as possible after being bitten by an animal.
Conclusion
Rabies is a horrible disease that can easily be prevented with a few simple precautions. Vaccinating your pets once a year to once every three years is neither expensive nor time-consuming, and is the most effective way to eradicate canine rabies. If everyone with pets got their animals vaccinated, it would be much safer for pets, families and the whole community.