Rabies has been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in an 65-year-old American
woman who died in 2017 contracted rabies from a puppy bite in India. Six weeks after return the US,
clinical presentation caused misdiagnosis by physicians at the time. Later it was found out that the biting
wound was only washed with water, but no vaccine or immunoglobulins were administered.
In November 2018, a British resident died after being bitten two months earlier by a rabid cat on a holiday
in Morocco. The man did not receive post-exposure prophylaxis until it was too late. British public health
authorities reminded travellers to avoid coming into contact with animals when travelling to rabies affected
countries.
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During 2018, the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira has investigated the levels of rabies antibodies in
dogs imported from Russia with alarming results. Of 36 street dogs examined, 15 (42%) did not have
antibodies against rabies indicating inadequate vaccination against rabies.
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Officials in Vietnam's capital are informing residents about existing dangers of eating dog meat, as part
of a campaign to eradicate rabies.
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China’s government has sentenced Changsheng Life Sciences, the country’s largest vaccine producer by
revenue, to pay a fine of $1.3B on eight violations of drug regulations following accusations by the State
Drug Administration that the company had forged production and inspection records for 110,000
freeze-dried rabies vaccines designated for human use.
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After two rabies cases in a reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and an Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) had been
laboratory confirmed in April and July this year, respectively, three further cases of arctic fox rabies has
been detected last months. Usually, the rabies viruses circulating in this part of Europe are closely related
to arctic variants occurring in Arctic regions of Russia.
United against Rabies implemented a new global strategic plan to eliminate dog-mediated rabies by 2030.
Through this plan, affected countries will move a significant step closer to the Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) 3 target of “ending the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and neglected tropical
diseases”.
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During the past one and a half year ad hoc groups of rabies experts have been working on synchronizing
rabies standards with those of WHO. Already in May 2018 the revised Rabies Chapter of the Terrestrial
Manual which sets standards for veterinary diagnostic laboratories and vaccine manufacturers had been
adopted by the OIE General Assembly. Currently the Rabies Chapter of the Terrestrial Code setting out
standards for the improvement of animal health and welfare and veterinary public health worldwide,
There are less than 500 of the highly endangered red wolves in the high mountains of Ethiopia and they
are very vulnerable to infectious diseases from domestic dogs, in particular rabies.
That is why the Ethiopian government intends to use oral vaccination using goat meat baits to pre-empt
outbreaks of rabies among Ethiopian wolves.
Read more here:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180823143919.htm
China: State Drug Administration finds serious violations of manufacturing protocol, prompting
company to order recall
China’s State Drug Administration has told the country’s second-biggest maker of rabies vaccines to stop
production after a snap inspection uncovered evidence of forged data
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