RABIES AND GLOBAL TRAVEL.

Scientists/researchers have warned tourist/holiday enthusiast to stay away from animals including bats on such travelling.This advice came on the heels of a lady that died after she was bitten by a dog while on a trip in India for 2 weeks. 

 Rabies is an acute viral infection of the central nervous system. The virus is usually transmitted through a dog bite, and results in at least 40,000 deaths worldwide every year.Around 90% of deaths occur in the developing world,particularly in India, where dogs that roam freely are largely responsible. Rabies is rare in the UK, where just 12 cases have been reported since 1977, 11 contracted abroad and one rare case acquired from a bat in the UK. 

 A team of researchers describe the case of a woman in her late 30s who was admitted to hospital with shooting pain in her lower back and left leg. Three and a half months earlier, she had been bitten by a puppy on a lead during a two week holiday in Goa. It left a slight graze, but she did not seek medical help, and she had not received a vaccination before travelling. 

She was diagnosed with rabies and died after 18 days in hospital. This case serves as an important reminder of the risk of rabies for any traveler to a country where rabies is endemic, even tourists on a short visit to a holiday resort, say the authors. 

 Travelers need to know whether they are visiting a country where rabies is endemic, and that any dog bite must be taken seriously,even an apparently innocuous bite from a pet. The risk can also be reduced by avoiding contact with animals that might be susceptible to rabies. stay away from roaming dogs ,cats or wildlife.

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW RABIES TREATMENT.

Treating rabies can be a race against the clock. Those who suffer a bite from a rabid animal have a brief window of time to seek medical help before the virus takes root in the central nervous system, at which point the disease is almost invariably fatal. Now, researchers have successfully tested a treatment on mice that cures the disease even after the virus has spread to the brain. The best way to deal with rabies right now is simple: Don't get rabies said study co-author Biao He, a professor of infectious diseases in the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. The vaccines that are available can prevent the disease, and the same vaccine is used as a kind of treatment after a bite, but it only works if the virus hasn't progressed too far. There is a new treatment now, a new vaccine has been developed that rescues mice much longer after infection than what was traditionally thought possible. In experiments, the animals were exposed to a strain of the rabies virus that generally reaches the brain of infected mice within three days. By day six, mice begin to exhibit the tell-tale physical symptoms that indicate the infection has become fatal. However, 50 percent of mice treated with the new vaccine were saved, even after the onset of physical symptoms on day six. There is an urgent need in many parts of the world for a better rabies treatment, and we think this technology may serve as an excellent platform . (source ;science daily)

SUN BURN IN ANIMALS.

Some dogs and cats prone to sunburn. Excessive sunbathing damages the skin. Humans are not the only ones who need to monitor their exposure to UV rays: animals are at risk too. Dogs and cats with white or thin coats are at particular risk, as are animals with very closely shorn fur or with certain pre-existing conditions. Excessive sunbathing damages the skin. Humans are not the only ones who need to monitor their exposure to UV rays: animals are at risk too. Dogs and cats with white or thin coats are at particular risk, as are animals with very closely short fur or with certain pre-existing conditions. Dermatologist Christa Horvath-Ungerböck from the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna explains which animals are particularly sensitive, how to prevent sun damage to the skin, and how to treat a sunburned animal. Human or animals skin with little or no pigmentation is very sensitive to the sun in general. Hairless pets or pets with very short or thin fur can also be vulnerable. For dogs and cats this applies in particular to those parts of the skin that are regularly exposed to the sun. These include the ears, the bridge of the nose, the skin around the eyes, and the back. Some animals particularly enjoy lying on tHouse pets with white or short fur are at particular risk of sunburn. The Dogo Argentino breed, white bulldogs, Dalmatians, boxers, whippets, beagles and white or multi-coloured cats with white patches have skin that is very sensitive to light, especially on their heads. In summer animals with short fur can also have a problem. The short hair allows UV rays penetrate down to the sensitive skin and cause sunburn. Hairless dogs and cats are naturally more sensitive to the sun, since they lack the natural sun protection fur affords. Here too though, skin pigmentation plays a role, and darker animals are less vulnerable to UV rays. Owners of vulnerable breeds should take particular care to protect their animals from the sun and their backs to bask in the sun. This exposes the skin on their bellies, which is often hairless, to the rays of the sun, increasing the risk of sunburn.

Guidance relaxes requirements for pets with lapsed rabies vaccine.

Cats and dogs with out-of-date vaccinations when exposed to rabies can receive a booster and be subject to an observation period, rather than quarantine or euthanasia, according to the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians in the 2016 edition of the Compendium of Animal Rabies Prevention and Control. The change follows a paper in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association that found that dogs whose vaccination status had lapsed demonstrated an adequate antibody response to support the change. Veterinarian Catherine Brown said the guidance does not mitigate the need to keep current on vaccination. Full Story: JAVMA News

ZIKA VIRUS INFECTION AND SEX.

A rare case of the Zika virus being transmitted through sex, not a mosquito bite, has been reported in the US.A patient infected in Dallas, Texas, is likely to have been infected by sexual contact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told the BBC The person had not travelled to infected areas but their partner had returned from Venezuela. Zika is carried by mosquitoes and has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains. It is spreading through the Americas and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease linked to the virus a global public health emergency. The American Red Cross has meanwhile urged prospective blood donors returning from Zika-hit countries to wait at least 28 days before donating their blood. The "self-deferral" should apply to people returning from Mexico, the Caribbean or Central or South America during the past four weeks, the Red Cross said in a statement. If Zika can readily spread through sex, then it poses a risk to every country not just those with the Aedes mosquito. The authorities have said sexual transmission is rare, but last year they would have said any case of Zika was rare, too. This explosive outbreak has caught the world by surprise and many key questions remain unanswered. Exactly how common or rare is sexual transmission? Can it be spread by the 80% of people who show no symptoms? How long does the virus persist in semen? When is it safe to have sex again? What should men do after visiting affected countries? Can women also spread the virus through sex? However, this is not a new HIV/Aids moment. HIV infection is incurable and dramatically shortens lives without daily medication. Zika infections are short, mild and pose a significant threat only in pregnancy. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director for CDC, said this was the first case it had dealt with involving a "non-traveller"."We don't believe this was spread through mosquito bites, but we do believe it was spread through a sexual contact."A statement issued by the CDC said the best way to avoid Zika virus infection was "to prevent mosquito bites and to avoid exposure to semen from someone who has been exposed to Zika".The case is "significant" if it was definitely transmitted through sexual contact, Alaka Basu, a senior fellow for public health at the UN Foundation. Story credit BBC.