Alex Trelinski
A VALENCIA man is seriously ill at an unnamed regional hospital after contracting rabies from a dog bite in Ethiopia nearly a year ago.
Rabies is a fatal disease in almost 100% of cases once symptoms appear and the current prognosis for the patient has been described as ‘very poor’.
The 44-year-old was not vaccinated against rabies before travelling to Africa in July 2024.
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A dog bit him on the right leg during the visit, but man simply cleaned the wound and did not got to see a doctor when he returned to Spain.
Although rabies would normally develop in a human after three weeks, there are cases of an incubation period last up to a year.
In the Valencia case, rabies symptoms appeared several months later including mood swings, nausea, lack of drinking water, light sensitivity, and seizures.
Rabies was diagnosed by the National Centre for Microbiology in late May and the patient received rabies immunoglobulin before being admitted to hospital.
His wife received a vaccine and immunoglobulin as a preventive measure and is doing well.
The Health Ministry said rabies transmission among humans is ‘very exceptional’ and added that the risk to the population is minimal.
The case highlights the need for vaccinations if visiting countries where rabies is endemic within animals.
The last outbreak in Spain occurred in Malaga in 1975, resulting in the death of two people.
Since 1978, Spain has been classified as free of rabies due to mass vaccination campaigns for dogs and cats.
