(JP)Ministry issues rabies alert

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20021229wo36.htm

 

Ministry issues rabies alert: Officials fear

fishermen's dogs may reintroduce disease

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

 

The government has taken the unusual step of telling

prefectural governments to prevent the spread of

rabies by dogs that have not been quarantined before

entering the country from Russian ships, sources said

Friday.

 

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has compiled a

six-point counter-rabies blueprint for all 47

prefectural governments, including instructions to

stop dogs on foreign vessels from disembarking

illegally, to capture stray dogs, and to provide

specific medical treatment for victims bitten by stray

dogs, the sources said. Many physicians in the country

are reportedly unfamiliar with rabies treatment.

 

The ministry apparently has been alarmed by the

growing likelihood that dogs possibly infected with

rabies may have escaped the legally required

quarantine process and landed from foreign-registered

vessels at ports nationwide, observers said.

 

No cases of rabies, which is communicated by mammals

and can be fatal for humans not vaccinated against it,

have been reported in the country since 1957. However,

the World Health Organization says that 35,000 to

50,000 people succumb to rabies in other parts of the

world every year.

 

No cure has been discovered for rabies, typical

symptoms in humans of which include hydrophobia and

respiratory difficulty. Victims usually die within

several days after developing symptoms.

 

According to the ministry and other concerned

authorities, the number of Russian-registered vessels

arriving in Japanese ports in 2000 was about 8,200.

While those docking at Wakkanai, Hanasaki and Otaru

ports in Hokkaido and Fushiki-Toyama port in Toyama

Prefecture accounted for about 80 percent, a number of

Russian vessels also entered ports in Chiba and

Yokohama.

 

The Rabies Prevention Law prohibits the entry into the

country of dogs that do not undergo quarantine.

 

At Wakkanai port--where the largest number of Russian

vessels docked in 2000, about 3,700--the Wakkanai

public health center has confirmed that 230 dogs went

ashore from such vessels between 1998 and 2000 without

being quarantined.

 

In May, a customs official who boarded a Russian ship

at Hanasaki Port in Nemuro, eastern Hokkaido, was

bitten on a foot by a dog kept aboard by Russian

fishermen. Fortunately, the official did not suffer

any injuries as his shoe protected his foot.

 

However, the dog ran ashore at the port and fled.

 

In the case of Fushiki-Toyama Port, a local

veterinarians' association has reported to the Toyama

prefectural government that local residents had bought

or bartered goods for Russian fishermen's dogs nine

times in the five years up to last year.

 

A survey mainly conducted by a ministry study group

headed by a senior veterinary researcher at the

National Institute of Infectious Diseases has found

that about 60 percent of Russian fishing boats carry

dogs as traditional good-luck mascots.

 

Some alarming facts have surfaced.

 

Every year, for example, at least 10 dogs are infected

by rabies in coastal areas of the Russian Far East,

where the home ports of many Russian fishing boats are

located. In addition, only about 25 percent of Russian

dogs registered with the proper authorities reportedly

are vaccinated against rabies.

 

The situation is also disturbing on the domestic

front.

 

Under the Rabies Prevention Law, each dog owner is

required to register canine pets with local

governments and have them vaccinated against rabies

once a year.

 

In fiscal 2000, about 5.78 million dogs were

registered nationwide, of which about 4.61 million,

about 80 percent, received antirabies vaccinations.

 

In reality, however, a far greater number of dogs are

unregistered.

 

According to a survey by an industrial association of

pet-food manufacturers, about 10.05 million dogs were

kept in 2000. Calculations based on the vaccination

ratio of the registered dogs, reveal that more than 50

percent of the dogs were not vaccinated that year.

 

In response to such findings, the ministry has mapped

out the counter-rabies blueprint with the cooperation

of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry,

which has jurisdiction over animal quarantines.

 

Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

 

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