Expert reminds Travelers to always consider the risk of rabies

Rabies is almost forgotten in this country. Since 2008, Germany is free of classic wild rabies, only in bats circulates the virus. But travelers can still be infected, especially in African and Asian countries. Experts from the Center for Travel Medicine (CRM) therefore recommend that they be vaccinated before traveling in rabies areas. According to the CRM, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 55,000 people die of rabies each year.

Contagion mostly via animal bite
Around 55,000 people, according to WHO estimates, die of rabies every year, most of them in India. As the Center for Travel Medicine (CRM) informs, the infection with the viral disease in humans is almost always due to the bite of an infected animal. In most cases, this is a dog bite, but also monkeys, cats or bats can transmit the rabies virus.

Rabies is still widespread in many countries. It is often transmitted by stray dogs. (Image: Isabel B. Meyer / fotolia.com)

Inform about long-distance travel about the risk of infection
In this country, rabies has largely been eradicated since 2008, only in wild bats, the virus occurs in individual cases before. In Africa and Asia, however, the disease is still ubiquitous. According to a message from the CRM should therefore be informed before each long-distance travel on the risk of infection at the destination and possibly vaccinated beforehand.

No cure for rabies
Not only the bite of an animal can be dangerous. Occasionally, the disease is already transmitted to the CRM, if the saliva of an infected animal comes into contact with injured skin or uninjured mucous membranes (eyes). If the rabies viruses get into the organism, this does not necessarily mean an outbreak of the disease. But when it breaks out, it ends fatally, because there is no cure.

"As a rule, the incubation period is three to eight weeks. In individual cases, it may even take several years for the disease to break out. " med. Tomas Jelinek, Scientific Director of CRM, according to the message. The onset of the disease begins in humans with pain and tingling around the bite site, followed by convulsions, agitation and paralysis, leading to death within 2 weeks.

Immediate vaccination necessary
If there is a suspicion of infection, vaccination should be performed as soon as possible. The vaccine contains harmless rabies viruses that can not trigger the disease, but that stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the "dangerous" viruses. "However, in most emerging and developing countries, high-quality cell culture vaccines and immunoglobulins are available only to a very limited extent - most likely in Western-standard clinics in the major metropolitan areas," emphasizes Jelinek

Quick immunization possible within a week
Accordingly, the expert advises to be completely vaccinated with a modern cell culture vaccine before traveling in areas of spread of rabies. This applies above all to inadequate medical care, long-term stays or possible contact with animals, for example because national parks are visited.

To achieve complete protection, three doses of the vaccine will be administered within several weeks. For a so-called rapid immunization, it is possible to vaccinate within a week. After contact with a possibly infected animal, the vaccination protection must be refreshed for safety reasons, informs the CRM. (No)