Map reveals holiday hotspots where rabies is rife – after British mum died after being scratched by puppy

The Sun

5 hours ago

THE countries where you are most likely to catch rabies have been revealed in a map of high-risk hotspots.
It comes after Yvonne Ford, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, died over the weekend after suddenly falling ill with the disease.
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The mum, 59, had suffered a mild scratch from a puppy while on holiday in Morocco in February and unknowingly contracted the potentially fatal bug.
Rabies is a viral infection spread through bites, scratches or even licks from infected animals.
It can take anywhere from a week to a year for symptoms to show, but once they do, the disease is almost always deadly.
The NHS says rabies symptoms include:
Numbness or tingling where you were bitten or scratched
Seeing things that are not there (hallucinations)
Feeling very anxious or energetic
Difficulty swallowing or breathing
Being unable to move (paralysis)
The virus attacks the brain and nervous system, and death usually follows within days.
There have been less than 10 cases of human rabies associated with animal exposures abroad reported in the UK since 2000.
However, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) yesterday stressed there was "no risk to the wider public" given there is "no documented evidence of rabies passing between people".
The last death caused by rabies in a UK animal, other than bats, was in 1902.
Dog licensing, euthanasia of stray dog and quarantining were credited with killing off the virus.
Western Europe is now considered 'low risk' for the disease by the WHO, while countries in Eastern Europe are listed as 'moderate risk' and African and Middle Eastern countries are 'high risk'.
Popular tourist destinations like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Turkey all carry a high risk of dogs transmitting rabies to people, according to UKHSA risk assessments.
Parts of Spain, specifically North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla, are also high risk - while risk on the mainland remains low.
The 'high risk' classification means rabies is known to exist in wild or domestic animals (such as dogs), or there isn't enough data to rule it out. Related viruses found in bats are monitored separately.
Using this official data, a map pinpoints the 92 high risk countries where exposure to rabies from dogs remains a serious threat.
Other high-risk countries frequently visited by UK travellers include Thailand, India, Indonesia (including Bali), and South Africa.
The data also flags several lesser-known but high-risk areas such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Tanzania.
Travellers to these countries should be particularly cautious around animals, as rabies transmission through bites or scratches is a serious risk.
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Dr Katherine Russell, head of emerging infections and zoonoses, at the UKHSA said: "I would like to extend my condolences to this individual's family at this time.
"If you are bitten, scratched or licked by an animal in a country where rabies is found then you should wash the wound or site of exposure with plenty of soap and water and seek medical advice without delay in order to get post-exposure treatment to prevent rabies.
"There is no risk to the wider public in relation to this case.
"Human cases of rabies are extremely rare in the UK, and worldwide there are no documented instances of direct human to human transmission.'"
The course of treatment for rabies is four doses of the vaccination for rabies and human rabies immunoglobulin (antibodies) applied over a 21-day period.
The last recorded rabies death in the UK was in 2018, when 58-year-old kebab shop worker Omar Zouhri was bitten by a cat while visiting family in Mehdya, Morocco.
He contracted the virus on August 31, but it wasn't until nearly two months later, on October 28, that he began showing symptoms of 'furious rabies', including itching, pain and violent muscle spasms.
By then, the virus had reached his central nervous system, making treatment impossible.
Omar, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, died in hospital in Oxford on November 4.
What rabies does to the body and how it's treated
The infection is common worldwide but is predominantly found in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America.
Some of the animals that are most likely to spread the disease are dogs, bats, foxes, skunks and raccoons.
Symptoms
After a bite or other rabies exposure, the virus can take weeks or months to start causing symptoms.
This timeframe is what doctors call the incubation period in which the virus is travelling through the body and to the brain.
Some of the most common symptoms of rabies include:
Fever
Headache
Excess salivation
Muscle spasms
paralysis
mental confusion
The World Health Organization describes two main manifestations of the disease: furious rabies and paralytic rabies.
People or animals with furious rabies may appear agitated, become aggressive, and drool excessively, while other symptoms include hyperactivity, fear of water, and even fear of fresh air.
The symptoms of paralytic rabies, on the other hand, are more understated—typically causing gradual paralysis as a patient remains calm and lucid.
Treatment
If you've been bitten or scratched by an animal in an area with a risk of rabies you should immediately clean the wound with running water and soap for several minutes.
After this, you must disinfect the wound with an alcohol- or iodine-based disinfectant and apply a simple dressing.
After the wound is addressed, you should see a doctor as soon as possible and they will determine if you need a rabies vaccination or not.
Post-exposure treatment is nearly 100 per cent effective if it's started before any symptoms of rabies appear.
Some cases will require immunoglobulin, which is administered into and around the wound.
This provides short-term protection if there is a significant chance of infection in the wound.
Treatment should ideally begin within a few hours of being bitten, but can be delayed up to 24 hours if needed.