Bite That

It’s World Rabies Day.

Now, there’s a day to celebrate!

The idea of World Rabies Day

is to raise awareness...

... so listen up!

Unless you’re in Antarctica,

there’s a chance of getting rabies!

(95% of human deaths

occur in Africa and Asia.)

Worldwide, over 55 000 people

die from rabies every year!

(That’s a death every ten minutes!

And that doesn’t include the 327 000

people who survived the virus!)

We can blame the dogs for that...

99% of the human rabies cases

come from dogs!

Dogs are responsible for all

55 000 human deaths

in Asia and Africa

 – annually!

I knew those dogs in Thailand

needed to be avoided...

Here in Australia,

we can also blame bats...

... so can the Americans and Canadians.

In rare cases,  foxes,

racoons, skunks, jackals and mongooses

are to blame.

Ok, so if you meet
one of these animals...

(pictures of a crazed “Cujo”

come to mind)

If you get bitten...

Or scratched...

You might have the rabies virus!

Panic!

Once symptoms develop...

Rabies is almost always fatal!

The virus attaches itself

to our nerve cells...

And eventually reaches the brain.

The brain swells...

Coma...

Death.

But, there’s pain first.

Fever sets in...

There’s a weird tingling

Or prickling...

Or burning...

There are two forms of the disease:

The hyperactivity one causes

excited behaviour, hydrophobia

and perhaps aerophobia....

This last for a few days

until your heart stops beating.

About 30% of the time

It’s paralytic rabies.

There’s less excitement

And you’ll last longer

But your muscles will

become paralysed,

You’ll fall into a coma

And eventually die.

(Neither seem pleasant!)

Luckily, there’s a vaccine!

However, in developing countries -

where the chance

of contracting rabies is greatest...

... no one can afford the vaccine.

 In countries where the daily income

 is a couple of dollars,

few people can afford

a US$40 vaccine.

The best they could do

is wound-cleaning.

15 minutes of washing

with soap and water

or iodine

could kill the rabies virus...

... but in places without running water,

this might not be an option.

And so, we’re back to

World Rabies Day.

No one should be dying from rabies.

But... like everything, the vaccine costs...

Since 2007, money raised
through World Rabies Day events
has led to the vaccination
of nearly 5 million animals.

That’s a lot less rabid bites!

Check out more here, here,

here, here and here.