proof of rabies origin? Rabies, canine, human - China (Guangdong

[Guest guest]

>does anyone know whether it can be proved whether a human infected

>with rabies got it from a bite or from eating dog? (other than on

>their word of whether they were bitten or not)

>I ask following the other article this week about confirmed cases

>from eating dog meat.

 

 

While the rabies infections may be confirmed, that the

source was eating a dog rather than a dog bite is almost always

highly unlikely.

 

Internationally recognized rabies expert Henry Wilde, M.D.,

of the Queen Saovabha Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, has

told me in response to past reports that there are no really

well-confirmed cases of someone getting rabies from consuming dog

meat.

 

The reason is really fairly simple: dog meat is typically

cooked for a long time at high temperature, the cooking process

would normally kill the rabies virus, and in any event the blood is

normally drained from the dogs' carcasses and the brain tissue and

spinal cord are not eaten.

 

With that much said, people who kill dogs for human

consumption are often bitten, and people who work in butchering

often have cuts on their hands which may come into contact with blood

or saliva from a rabid animal.

 

There was one recent case in the Philippines in which a child

may have contracted rabies from dog meat, but the circumstances are

far from clear. The victim was apparently given dog meat during a

drinking party.

 

Ressia Mae Edoria of Barangay Molobolo, Cauayan, Negros

Occidental " suffered from high fever and exhibited symptoms of rabies

shortly after eating the meat, " her father Renante Edoria told

Margaux C. Ortiz of the Philippine Inquirer. The girl died on

December 13, 2006.

 

Veterinarian Winston Samaniego told Ortiz that rabies might

have attacked the victim though a tooth cavity, moving rapidly

through exposed nerve endings to her brain.

 

 

--Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

 

--

Kim Bartlett, Publisher of ANIMAL PEOPLE Newspaper

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