PRO/AH/EDR Rabies, via dog/cat butchering - Viet Nam: probable

[Guest guest]

A similar case occurred in the Philippines several years ago.

 

 

RABIES, VIA DOG/CAT BUTCHERING - VIET NAM: PROBABLE

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[1]

Tue 17 Mar 2009

Source: inthenews.co.uk [edited]

<http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/vietnam/eating-dog-or-cat-l\

inked-rabies-$1280986.htm>

 

 

Eating dog or cat linked to rabies

-

A new study has detailed how 2 people in Asia contracted rabies after

eating dog or cat meat.

 

A report published in the journal PLoS Medicine [see part (2) below]

describes how the 2 patients in Hanoi, Viet Nam, died from

laboratory-confirmed rabies. Health experts claim their symptoms

developed after butchering, preparing, and consuming either a dog or a cat.

 

The researchers were unable to test the butchered animals for rabies,

so could not be entirely certain the animals were the source of the rabies.

 

However, they caution that butchering of unvaccinated dogs and cats

in rabies-endemic countries should be considered a risk factor for

rabies transmission.

 

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[2]

Wed 18 Mar 2009

Heiman Wertheim <heiman.wertheim

 

 

Rabies infections highlight dangers of processing dog meat

-------------------------

Eating dog meat is common in many Asian countries, but research

conducted as part of the South East Asia Infectious Diseases Clinical

Research Network has discovered a potentially lethal risk associated

with preparing dog meat: rabies. In research published today [18 Mar

2009] in the open access journal PLoS Medicine, Dr Heiman Wertheim

and colleagues from the National Institute of Infectious and Tropical

Diseases and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology in

Hanoi, Viet Nam, report on 2 patients admitted to hospital showing

signs of rabies infection. Neither patient was thought to have been

bitten by a rabid animal in the preceding months.

 

Rabies is a very serious -- and in nearly all cases fatal -- disease.

It is estimated to kill more than 30 000 people each year in Asia,

and the number of cases in China and Viet Nam is increasing. Symptoms

include agitation, severe spasms, fever, fear of water and inability

to drink liquids, and eventually death. Humans are usually infected

after being bitten by an infected animal such as a dog or bat.

 

When the researchers investigated whether the patients had come into

contact with infected animals in the preceding months, they found

that both had been involved in preparing and eating animals that may

have been infected. In the 1st patient's case, he had prepared and

eaten a dog that had been killed in a road traffic accident; rabid

dogs were known to inhabit the neighbourhood. The 2nd patient had

butchered and eaten a cat that had been sick for a number of days.

 

In both cases seen by Dr Wertheim and colleagues, it is thought that

infection occurred during the slaughtering, and not by eating the

meat, as the meal was shared by others who did not become infected.

In Asia, it is believed that eating dog meat enhances health and

longevity. It is eaten throughout the year in the 2nd 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 a risk factor

for rabies transmission, but it is important that other health care

workers and policy makers, both inside and outside Vie Nam, are aware

of this risk factor. "

 

The South East Asia Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network is

funded by the Wellcome Trust and the National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health USA.

 

References

----------

1. Wertheim, H et al: Furious Rabies after an Atypical Exposure. PLoS

Medicine. 17 March 2009 [available at

<http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document & doi=10.1371%2Fj\

ournal.pmed.1000044 & ct=1>].

2. The South East Asia Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Network

[sEAICRN; <http://www.seaclinicalresearch.org/>] is a multinational

clinical research network that strives to advance the scientific

knowledge and clinical management of infectious disease through

integrated, collaborative clinical research in Indonesia, Thailand

and Viet Nam. The principal sources of funding for the Network are

the US National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy

and Infectious Diseases, USA and the Wellcome Trust, UK.

3. The Wellcome Trust [<http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/>] is the largest

charity in the UK. It funds innovative biomedical research, in the UK

and internationally, spending over GBP 600 million [approx. USD 840

million] each year to support the brightest scientists with the best

ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical

research and its impact on health and wellbeing.

 

--

Heiman Wertheim

<heiman.wertheim

 

[ProMED-mail thanks Heiman Wertheim for provision of this

supplementary information. - Mod.CP]

 

[see also:

Rabies, human, canine - Viet Nam: (Binh Thuan), RFI 20090111.0115

Rabies, human - Viet Nam: RFI 20070910.2992]

....................................tg/cp/mj/dk

 

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