A dog with canine rabies bit several people in a shelter in the Paris region. According to a press release from the Ministry of Agriculture, published on Thursday, this rare case has been taken care of by the authorities.
“The Pasteur Institute has confirmed [jeudi] a case of rabies in a Husky cross-type dog detained in a shelter in Évry-Courcouronnes in Essonne (91),” the statement said.
Bitten people put on treatment
The animal had “bitten several people who were quickly taken care of by the rabies center of the Institut Pasteur, which administered a very effective post-exposure prophylactic treatment to them”, continues the text.
The other people identified as having been exposed to the animal have been contacted by the ARS Ile-de-France and are also directed, if their exposure requires it, to a consultation in an anti-rabies center, specifies the ministry.
The dog had “contracted rabies before arriving at the shelter”
Since 2001, France has been officially recognized as free of rabies (excluding bats), but the disease, which is fatal, continues to circulate in many countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, where dogs are responsible for the majority of cases of rabies. transmission to humans, indicates the website of the Ministry of Agriculture.
In this case, “the animal developed the first signs on October 19 and died on October 25. Throughout the period of contagiousness (up to 15 days before the first signs), the dog remained in the shelter, alone in its box or in a relaxation courtyard”, but “in view of the incubation period, the dog had necessarily contracted rabies before arriving at the shelter.
“This dog could have been illegally imported”
“Initial investigations, still in progress, indicate that this dog could have been illegally imported from Morocco, a country where rabies is endemic,” said the authorities.
The contamination of humans is done by an animal by means of saliva on the occasion of biting, scratching, licking on injured skin or mucous membrane (eye, mouth), but it is not transmitted on the occasion of caresses. to the animal, we recall. The disease is not transmitted between humans.