Rabies fear: 12 members of 4 families throng SDH Nowshera for vaccine jabs.

GNS ONLINE NEWS PORTAL

SHYAM SOOD 

RAJOURI JUNE 11:–Twelve members of five families from Qilla Darhal in Nowshera subdivision of Rajouri district hurried to sub district hospital Nowshera to get anti-rabies vaccine shots after a cow, a calf and a buffalo were diagnosed rabid.
“12 members of a family attended medicine OPD at SDH Nowshera on Tuesday who had contact with a rabid cow and had taken its milk & curd. It is not advisable to consume milk from rabid animals. So, all the members have been advised for anti-rabies vaccine (5 doses),” said BMO, Dr Iqbal Malik.
As all the 12 members of the families encountered the rabid animals & their saliva and consumed their milk/milk products, they were advised by the veterinary doctor to receive anti-rabies vaccine jabs.
The families are headed by Gian Singh, Prabhdayal Singh, Bhupinder Singh, & Trilochan Singh.
The virus is found in wild and some domestic animals and is transmitted to other animals and humans through their saliva.
The veterinary doctor also treated the affected animals. Rabies is an acute viral disease that causes fatal encephalomyelitis in virtually all warm-blooded animals.
Health authorities at SDH Nowshera Nowshera even administered the shots to 12 people but heaved a sigh of relief as no one had shown any symptoms of the ailment, considered fatal, an official said.
Block Medical Officer (BMO) Nowshera, Dr Iqbal Malik advised people never to consume unboiled milk as it can transmit diseases from infected animals. Milk should be boiled for at least 30 minutes to kill the rabies virus.
“It is recommended that the people should avoid consuming tissues & milk from rabid animals as transmission of rabies virus in non-pasteur ised milk is theoretically possible,” said BMO.
Rabies in cattle is one of the essential infectious zoonotic diseases that you must be concerned about.
The disease is spread by the bites of affected animals like dogs, foxes, raccoons, bats, and skunks.
It can also be transmitted by a contaminated fresh wound with the infected animal’s saliva.
Saliva is the primary source of the virus being shed through nerves and via the bloodstream, the disease spreads throughout the body.
Experts in the field are of the view that the disease is hundred percent fatal to all infected animals. Vaccination of the animals prior to exposure is the best form of protection.