CAPE TOWN - Another case of the deadly rabies virus has been recorded in Gordon’s Bay.
In August, two cases of rabies were also detected in Khayelitsha and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported that a total of seven cases of human rabies were laboratory-confirmed in South Africa. The cases were reported from the Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, and Eastern Cape provinces.
In relation to the most recent case in Gordon’s Bay, Western Cape Department of Agriculture state veterinarian Dr Lesley van Helden said: “The dog was brought to a private vet and euthanised on the evening of September 29. The next morning the state vet was informed, fetched the body and sent it to be tested in Pretoria. We got the positive lab results (Tuesday).
“Our officials are busy planning a mass vaccination campaign in Gordon’s Bay.”
Meanwhile, the Mdzananda Animal Clinic in Khayelitsha said there had been no new cases reported in the area.
Operations manager Heidi May said: “We sent in another suspicious case last week but the result came back negative. In house as well as off-site since the initial cases were identified, we have most probably done approximately 2 000 rabies vaccines. We are continuing to administer rabies vaccines to every animal that comes to the clinic as well as to our mobile clinics. We would like to return to Mfuleni but will now need to focus on areas in the Gordons Bay direction of Khayelitsha, eNkanini and Makhaza to try and create a barrier.”
May stressed that the virus was deadly to both animals and humans.
“Any contact with a suspicious animal needs to be treated as serious and humans need to seek medical attention. Here prevention is better than cure as there is no cure and people need to make sure that they vaccinate their animals on time,” she said.
Sponsorship for a dog’s vaccination or donation to Mdzananda Animal Clinic can be made at Standard Bank, account number: 075595710, Rondebosch, branch code: 025009, Reference: Rabies+YourName or contact [email protected].
Cape Times