The day was celebrated across the world yesterday and the department joined the campaign in the Free State that took place in Parys. During this campaign, pet owners were encouraged to bring their cats and dogs to be vaccinated against Rabies. 

Dr Mpho Maja, national director of animal health at the department, says because of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations it was decided to focus on a social media awareness campaign leading up to the worldwide celebration. The campaign included publicity which was championed by the national department as well as the profession in general.  OFM News' Christal-Lize Muller spoke to Maja...

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The disease 

Maja says Rabies is a disease caused by a virus and it affects all mammals but not birds like chickens and ostriches. The virus affects the brain of an animal and is transmitted by saliva (spit) and when a dog or a cat or a wild animal which is affected, bites or licks an open wound of another animal or human, the virus gets transmitted.

Number of cases

According to Maja, it is difficult to provide an exact number of Rabies-infected animals in the country, but she says it is fairly high especially in the eastern provinces including Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Eastern Cape. 

High cases in the Free State are mainly in areas bordering Lesotho. A total of four human fatalities because of Rabies were reported this year. She says it is a low number compared to figures in previous years and the lockdown regulations because of Covid-19, played a role in this. People were in lockdown and were not in contact with the outside world that much.  

Prevention

She says prevention is almost 100% guaranteed that we can reduce and eradicate transmission to people from animals through vaccination. If pets are vaccinated to an extent that there is a good immunity in the pet population transmission by pets to animals will be greatly reduced. The department is also trying to promote and urge people to confine their pets. It is, however, a challenge because cats are roaming animals and if they are in contact with a wild population that has rabies, like meerkats while running around at night and getting into fights, cats can be infected. She says, however, this is why it is extremely important to vaccinate pets because if they get bitten by an infected wild animal they will contract the disease but cannot transmit it to humans who will then not get infected.  

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