How common is rabies? After UK tourist dies following contact with dog
Holidaymakers will be counting down the days until they jet off on their summer holiday - but heading abroad can also bring a lot of dangers, especially when it comes to your health.
Certain viruses or diseases are more prevalent in some countries than in others due to factors like lifestyle and environmental conditions. Rabies, for example, has been wiped out in the UK, but can still rear its head elsewhere.
This week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed that a British woman has died in Yorkshire from rabies after contact with a stray dog while on holiday in Morocco.
But just how common is rabies? And what risk does it pose to people living in the UK?
What is rabies and can it be treated?
Rabies is a deadly viral disease that affects the central nervous system (CNS) - the brain and spinal cord.
It is caused by the rabies virus and almost always leads to death once symptoms appear, but it is 100 per cent preventable with prompt medical treatment after exposure.
Rabies is most often transmitted through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, as the virus is present in saliva. It can also spread if infected saliva gets into open wounds or mucous membranes (like eyes or mouth).
The virus is most often carried by dogs, bats, raccoons, foxes, skunks and cats.
Rabies has been eradicated from the United Kingdom in terrestrial (land) animals since the early 20th century, with the last case of classical rabies in an animal reported in 1902. It was officially declared eradicated in pets in 1922.
Human rabies cases are extremely rare in the UK with just six cases reported since 2000, according to the UK Government.
Five were imported cases with animal exposures abroad and one was an infection with EBLV-2 in a bat handler in Scotland which occurred in 2002. The man sadly died in what was the first case in Britain for 100 years.
The last rabid terrestrial animal in the UK was a puppy imported from Sri Lanka in 2008. And the most recent case of rabies in the UK was in 2018 when an individual was bitten by a cat in Morocco.
Apart from the one case who acquired it from bats in the UK, all human rabies cases in the UK between 2000 and 2018 were associated with exposure to infected animals abroad.
Crucially, none of the cases were known to have received pre-or-post-exposure rabies treatment.
If you're wondering about human-to-human transmission, well, there has never been a laboratory-documented case other than very few resulting from organ or tissue transplant.
The same goes for spreading rabies by kissing or intimate contact.
However, rabies virus can be found in saliva and other body fluids after rabies symptoms start developing as well as clinical disease, so there is a small theoretical risk of infection at this stage of disease, say the experts.
Therefore, as a precaution, those who have come into contact with a rabies patient may be offered immunisation.
Symptoms of Rabies
According to the NHS, symptoms usually appear two to eight weeks after exposure but can vary.
Early symptoms (similar to flu):
Fever
Headache
Fatigue
Pain or tingling at the bite site
Advanced symptoms:
Anxiety, confusion
Hallucinations
Hydrophobia (fear of water due to throat spasms)
Aerophobia (fear of air due to pain from air movement)
Seizures
Paralysis
Coma
Death, once symptoms start (usually within days)
Treatment and Prevention
Once symptoms appear, rabies is almost always fatal. But it can be treated prior to this in the following ways:
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP): given immediately after exposure, it can prevent the virus from progressing
A series of rabies vaccine shots
Pre-exposure vaccine is available for people at higher risk (e.g. vets, travellers to endemic areas)
What to do if you're bitten or scratched
Wash the wound immediately with soap and water for at least 15 minutes
Seek medical care immediately
Follow through with post-exposure treatment as advised
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