(CN) Rabies

[Guest guest]

RABIES, HUMAN - CHINA (GUANGDONG)

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A ProMED-mail post

<http://www.promedmail.org>

ProMED-mail is a program of the

International Society for Infectious Diseases

<http://www.isid.org>

 

 

Mon 21 Jul 2003

ProMED-mail <promed

Source: News.com Australia, Agence France Presse report, Mon 21 Jul 2003

[edited]

<http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6788321%255E401,00.html>

 

 

China; 74 Cases of Rabies Reported in Guangdong Province

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At least 74 people have contracted rabies and [with fatal outcome] in

southern China, state press and local officials reported on Mon 21 Jul

2003. The Xinhua News Agency stated that the cases were reported in

Guangdong Province between 5 Jan and 30 Jun 2003, adding that almost 7000

dogs have been rounded up and killed. Governments at various levels in the

province have stepped up precautionary measures, including the organized

killing of stray dogs and the immunization of local residents, the report

said. An official at the Guangdong Health Department refused to give a

death toll. In Maoming, the most seriously affected area, almost 4000

people have been mobilized to round up and kill stray dogs. A total of 786

rabies cases have been reported in Guangdong since 1990, the Xinhua Agency

reported.

 

Rabies is a serious, fatal disease that can be transmitted by dogs, cats,

livestock, and certain wild animals and birds. Guangdong, where the SARS

virus originated, has also witnessed a " mini-outbreak " of encephalitis B

[caused by Japanese encephalitis virus] since the end of April 2003. The

most recent figures available, from 2 Jul 2003, showed that the disease had

killed 27 people from 310 confirmed infections.

 

--

ProMED-mail

<promed

 

[it might be more constructive and effective to implement compulsory canine

vaccination and to control wild-life rabies using baited vaccine, rather

than resorting to destruction of stray dogs and vaccination of the human

population in high-risk areas, as this report suggests is the current

policy. - Mod.CP]

 

A Correction

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Several ProMED-mail rs have pointed out an error in the text of

the Agence France Presse report contained in the post entitled: " Rabies,

human - China (Guangdong) 20030721.1783 " , which was reproduced without

comment or correction.

 

The offending statement read: " Rabies is a serious, fatal disease that can

be transmitted by dogs, cats, livestock, and certain wild animals and

birds. " In fact, although pre-human diploid cell vaccines were produced in

embryonated duck eggs or primary chicken and quail embryo cells, birds have

never been shown to be susceptible to rabies virus infection, nor have

raptors or avian scavenger species been implicated in the transmission of

rabies. The report should have been amended to read " terrestrial animals

and bats " .

 

My thanks to all who alerted us to this inaccuracy. - Mod.CP

 

[see also:

Rabies, human - China (Guangdong) 20030721.1783]