Direktlänk till inlägg 31 oktober 2013

Observing for Rabies

Av loren adams - 31 oktober 2013 06:38

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates there are 55,000 rabies deaths every year. According to the Global Alliance for Rabies Control, the total is 70,000, with 10 million treated for bites from potentially infected dogs. India has the highest annual rate of deaths in Asia: 20,000. The majority of victims are under 15. Around the world, rabies kills around 100 children every day. In Africa and Asia alone, the disease (the most potently lethal known on earth) threatens 3.3 billion people – just under half the world's population.

The risks lurking in these regions often elude visitors from countries with tighter rabies controls: Australian and European tourists in places such as India and Bali, and US servicemen and women in Afghanistan.

In my opinion vaccinating animal populations is the only effective way to bring a rabies outbreak under control.

It’s really important that we vaccinate the dogs. You can’t kill your way out of a rabies problem. There’s just no way to kill them all, so vaccinating the animals is really the way to go.

 
Our work in Afghanistan; vaccinating and teaching rabies awareness, was regonized by Liane Wimhurst - Independent on Sunday - 25th September 2011:
"It was stray dogs that attacked specialist soldier Kevin Shumaker's remote Afghan base in the mountains of Chamanki in January. One plunged its fangs into the 24-year-old Californian's hand as he tried to break up a grisly fight. He needed six shots, but was only given three as the final half of the treatment had expired.
Months later his arm lurched into the grips of an intolerable tingling, his throat constricted and, finally, his brain haemorrhaged. He died in Fort Drum, New York on 31 August. "American soldiers don't realise the disease is much more common in Asian countries. So they sometimes take a chance and take care of a dog because they want companionship," says Major Loren Adams, veterinarian for soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

In south-east Asia, Bali is known to be an island of enchanting beaches, mesmerising temples, and now rabies. It had no history of the virus until 2008 but, within six months, no part of the island was left unaffected. The culprit was most likely a stray dog that had climbed aboard a trade ship from Indonesia. Hundreds of travellers from Australia and other countries have cut short their trips after attacks. Up to 300,000 dogs roam the island, lurking in back alleys, with potentially rabid drool bubbling in their mouths.

Bali has counted 132 deaths since the outbreak, but lacks proper records – so the number could be far higher. Demand for the vaccine far outstrips supply, meaning tourists need to make a frantic dash home for jabs. Rabies must be treated with a programme of injections very swiftly, preferably within 24 hours (they are given in the hips, not the stomach). Once symptoms show, death is inevitable.

The symptoms are like something from a horror film. Intense fear of air and water, throat surging into racking spasms at the sight of liquid and the gentlest of draughts feeling like a bomb blast, coupled with a frenzied energy and frothing at the mouth.

The post-bite jab was invented 126 years ago, but it has a huge price tag in the developing world: in Asia, it costs $49 (£32), and $40 in Africa, where the average daily income is between $1-$2. It is cheaper in India, which has developed its own vaccine.

Sarah Cleaveland, professor of comparative epidemiology at the University of Glasgow, found what she describes as a "classic rabies story" in northern Tanzania. A farmer had weeping bites and scratches carved into his back. He had been bitten by his rabid daughter. By the time his family scraped together money for treatment, it was too late – she was devoured by the disease, but he survived. Another family she met had enough money for one course of treatment after their five children were attacked by rabid dogs. They had just one day to choose which child to save.

Dr François-Xavier Meslin, head of neglected zoonotic diseases at the World Health Organisation, says patients are frequently condemned to a painful, brutal and often isolated death because they have no money.
Dogs are responsible for 97 per cent of human rabies cases. "They are the best conveyors of the virus," Dr Meslin says. While rabies might eventually be eliminated in dogs, it can never be stamped out in the wild, he says.
 Hawaii is the only state where there is no rabies. Around the world, Australia and Antarctica are also rabies-free.
For Dr Meslin, attempting to draw attention to rabies is like wailing in a wind-tunnel. While any part of the world has the disease, vast swathes of the planet risk an outbreak, but other short-term epidemics get more attention. "Rabies is not as attractive to donors as other zoonotic diseases of recent years, such as Sars [a form of pneumonia]," he says.
Specialists hope to mobilise efforts to combat the disease on World Rabies Day September 28th. The date commemorates the death of Louis Pasteur, the scientist who invented the first effective vaccine in 1885."

 

Från
    Kom ihåg mig
URL

Säkerhetskod
   Spamskydd  

Kommentar

Av loren adams - 20 maj 2016 22:46


  i have submitted my retirement letter already

Av loren adams - 27 april 2016 14:34


Wake up my dear, To this beautiful morning dew,Wakeup sweetheart,As everything is so new,Wakeup to the wonderful sun rays,As I wish you have a beautiful day,A very good morning to you! My Queen and my evrythin   ...

Av loren adams - 27 april 2016 07:06


B-52 was sent to destroy an IS weapons storage facility in the Iraqi town of Qayyarah, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) south of Mosul    Washington (AFP) - The US Air Force for the first time deployed a B-52 bomber against the Islamic State, the P...

Av loren adams - 31 mars 2016 15:35

 I feel worried when you didn't write me..  that was why i sent such mail to you,...Im sorry i was worried here when i didn't hear from you. i cant leave you honey..we are family only you in my whole World Honey.I Love You Honey We need to ha...

Av loren adams - 24 mars 2016 08:14


 

Skapa flashcards