PRO/AH Rabies, via dog/cat butchering

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RABIES, VIA DOG/CAT BUTCHERING - NIGERIA

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29 Mar 2009

Source: Personal communication from the Federal Ministry of

Agriculture and Water Resources Department of Livestock, Kaduna

Nigeria [edited]

 

 

Human butchering and consumption of animals potentially infected with

rabies and other zoonotic viruses is not limited to Asia. In Nigeria,

dog eating is very common in states such as Plateau, Akwa Ibom, Cross

River, Kaduna, Kebbi and Ondo. In fact, dog suya (barbequed dog meat)

is sold publicly in the dog eating areas. In some areas such as Jos,

only local and seasoned connoisseurs may easily distinguish

restaurants where dog and other conventional meats are sold. Cat

eating, though not as common as dog eating, can also be encountered,

even in cosmopolitan places such as Lagos. While human consumption of

bats is also common, there seems to have been little or no local

effort (as per the limited information available) to evaluate the

risk of rabies transmission.

 

Rabies is no doubt underreported and probably misdiagnosed in Nigeria

and elsewhere in Africa (Asselbergs 2007 and the references therein).

Cultural and religious beliefs will also contribute to the

underreporting of human rabies that may arise from the consumption of

infected apparently healthy dogs and cats. The [rabies-related

lyssaviruses] Lagos bat and Mokola viruses still remain

under-diagnosed in the human populace.

 

The paper by Ajayi, Rabo and Baba (2006) also indicates a disturbing

possibility of transmission of rabies by apparently healthy (free of

overt rabies signs) stray dogs. If their observations are confirmed,

this, in their words, " signifies a new dimension in the epidemiology

of the disease in this environment where the high-risk practices are

prevalent. " What's more intriguing epidemiologically and culturally

is that their research was carried out in Maiduguri; the overwhelming

Muslim population in the city provide zero economic incentives for

dog meat restaurants. However, the dogs were slaughtered in

restaurants associated with 2 military barracks in the city.

 

In summary, the situation reported in Viet Nam, Nigeria, etc. only

reaffirms that rabies is more of a neglected tropical disease than

thought and which deserves attention.

 

References:

Ajayi BB, Rabo JS, Baba SS. Rabies in apparently healthy dogs:

histological and immunohistochemical studies. The Nigerian

Postgraduate Medical Journal. 2006 Jun;13(2):128-34.

 

Asselbergs M. Rabies awareness. The Veterinary Record 2007 Sep

22;161(12):4322.

 

[AbdulKareem Durosinloun; Federal ministry of Agriculture and Water

Resources Department of Livestock; Kaduna Nigeria]

 

--

Communicated by:

Shamsudeen Fagbo

Dept. of Tropical Veterinary Diseases

University of Pretoria South Africa

 

[We appreciate Dr. Fagbo updating us on this situation in countries

other than Asia. Sadly, the underreporting of rabies in animals and

people is a trend not likely to disappear any time soon. - Mod.TG]

 

[see also:

Rabies, via dog/cat butchering - Viet Nam: probable 20090318.1092]

................................................tg/msp/jw

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