Brits travelling to Spain given alert after lethal virus detected
Foreign Office travel website says new case detected this month of illness which 'causes progressive damage to the brain and spinal cord'
Holidaymakers to Spain have been given an alert after a case of rabies was discovered. The Foreign Office said the case of the 'almost always fatal' virus had been detected this month in Valencia.
In a new update on the Foreign Office funded Travel Health Pro site it said: 'In early June 2025, the Valencian Health Department reported a fatal case of rabies in a Spanish resident bitten by a dog during a trip to Ethiopia in July 2024.'
Travel Health Pro says rabies is a virus carried in animal saliva that usually spreads to humans from a bite, scratch, lick to an open wound from an infected animal (typically a dog). It said: 'It can also be a risk if an animal spits and saliva gets into the eyes, mouth or nose. The virus attacks the central nervous system, causing progressive damage to the brain and spinal cord. Once symptoms are present, rabies is almost always fatal.'
The Spanish General Directorate of Public Health said: 'In early June 2025, the Valencian Health Department reported a fatal case of rabies in a patient who suffered a dog bite during a trip to Ethiopia in July 2024. The case poses no risk to public health as it is transmitted only through bites from rabid animals, and mainland Spain and its islands have been free of rabies in terrestrial mammals since 1978.
'According to the Contingency Plan for the Control of Terrestrial Rabies in Captive and Wild Animals in Spain, 2023, Spain is at alert level 0 (no cases of terrestrial rabies). In the Autonomous Cities of Ceuta and Melilla, alert level 1 is occasionally activated, due to the risk that imported cases of animal rabies crossing the border from Morocco may come into contact with local populations of feral dogs, leading to local transmission.'
NHS rabies advice:
Get medical help immediately if:
you've been bitten or scratched by an animal while you're abroad
an animal has licked your eyes, nose or mouth, or licked a wound you have, while you're abroad
you've been bitten or scratched by a bat in the UK
If you're abroad, get medical help as soon as possible. Do not wait until you get back to the UK.
If you're in the UK, ask for an urgent GP appointment, call NHS 111 or get help from 111 online.
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