Covid-19and now monkeypoxhave for months been at the forefront of zoonoses, these transmissible diseases from animals to humans. However, we must not forget those which have marked history and which continue to prevail. Rabies is one of them, and like every year at this time, the Ministry of Agriculture is renewing its “Watch out for rabies” information campaign.
In France, rabies was eradicated in 2001, thanks to a large vaccination campaign which began at the end of the 1980s for pets but especially for foxes. For the latter, the vaccines were concealed in bait that was dispersed in nature by helicopter. But today, as we celebrate the bicentenary of Pasteur’s birth, the threat comes from beyond our borders.
Do not approach a stray animal
“Rabies still kills one person every ten minutes,” warns Arnaud Chatry, head of the service in charge of health checks on imports at the Ministry of Agriculture. It is not an abstract danger”. Contamination most often occurs by biting, licking a wound or scratching a rabid dog or cat that may still be in the incubation phase. One of the recommendations of the “Watch out for rabies” campaign is therefore, when staying in countries where rabies is still circulating, not to pet or try to approach a stray animal.
Check the health requirements for your own animals
“We also want to raise awareness among people who go abroad with their dog or cat. Of course, the health requirements of the country of destination must be taken into consideration, but sometimes the requirements for returning to France are even stricter,” warns Arnaud Chatry.
Thus, to return from a country where rabies is endemic, serology to measure anti-rabies antibodies may be required by French customs in order to ensure vaccine protection. All this is anticipated with a veterinarian, the steps can take between one and four months.
Do not bring back an abandoned animal
Another risky attitude is to feel sorry for the fate of a stray dog or cat during a trip, and to want to bring it back. The cases of rabies declared in France in recent years all come from imported animals, often illegally. But it’s not always the case. Nathalie Pihier, veterinarian and deputy director of DDPP 78, remembers this month of November 2013: “A young woman had found an abandoned kitten on a beach in Morocco. However, she had consulted a veterinarian on site, who had disregarded health obligations; she had therefore returned almost legally to Val-d’Oise with the animal. But the following week, the kitten ran away; he is taken in by a neighbour, where he dies suddenly after a few days. When it was a question of burying it, a veterinary friend practicing in Morocco, familiar with rabies, reflexively advised this person to have the body of the kitten sent to the Pasteur Institute. Reflex that saved the lives of several people: the kitten was enraged.
A race against time was on! “We had to carry out a real neighborhood survey, which mobilized us day and night, in order to retrace the kitten’s journey and find all the people or animals who might have come across it”, tells us Nathalie Pihier. Indeed, there is a treatment (an anti-rabies serum) for people exposed to the virus, but as soon as the symptoms are declared, death is inevitable. In total, about fifteen people had to receive serotherapy. “We have not gone far from cases of human rabies in France! And unfortunately, as required by the health procedure, it was necessary to euthanize the dogs and cats “contact cases” who were not up to date with their rabies vaccination”, deplores Nathalie.
The Ukrainian exception
A huge amount of human and financial resources deployed, a lot of concern, owners devastated by the unavoidable euthanasia of their animal… all this for a kitten returned to France in a non-compliant manner. “If you want to offer the door of your home to an unfortunate animal, it is more prudent and simpler to contact French shelters and associations, which really need it”, insists Nathalie Pihier.
An exception has however been made for animals repatriated from Ukraine: the health surveillance protocols in the case of importing dogs or cats are aligned with intra-European protocols. A welcome derogation, in view of an exceptional context and the health emergency.
Discover ici the recommendations of the ministry and the list of countries at risk.