Pretoria - The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched an intensive dog vaccination campaign following a rabies outbreak in Muldersdrift and surrounding areas.
Rabies has been confirmed in the past month in four jackals and one unvaccinated domestic dog in Muldersdrift, Kromdraai and Lanseria.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), at least two human exposures have been reported and both persons received appropriate preventative treatment.
The institute said that while jackals play an important role in the ecosystem, jackal rabies is well documented in South Africa and periodic increases in cases are reported.
“In the past year, jackal rabies has been reported from North West and KwaZulu-Natal. A similar incident occurred in 2009 when rabies was confirmed in a domestic dog in the Johannesburg suburb of Linden, with 42 domestic dogs subsequently contracting rabies in South Western Johannesburg.
“While dog bites are common in Gauteng and usually relate to security incidents, a rabies risk must be considered in the following circumstances: bites or scratches or licks of mouth, eyes and nose from unusually tame wild animals; bites that would seem to be unprovoked; the animal is a stray; the animal is ill or an unusually aggressive domestic animal,” said NICD spokesperson Nombuso Shabalala.
According to the national guidelines, thorough wound cleaning is critical and post- exposure prophylaxis with a course of rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin into the wound may be life-saving.
The NICD also warned people not to approach or handle jackals as rabies-infected jackals appeared unusually tame. – SAnews.gov.za
