World Rabies Day: what every Nigerian must know about rabies
Rabies is 100% fatal and 100% vaccine-preventable, and Nigeria still loses people to it. The facts, the bite protocol, and your part.
September 28 is World Rabies Day, and it exists because of an uncomfortable pair of facts: rabies is virtually 100 percent fatal once symptoms appear, and it is 100 percent preventable before that. Nigeria still records human deaths from it, almost all from dog bites, almost all preventable.
What rabies is
A virus that travels from a bite wound along nerves to the brain. The journey can take weeks to months, which is the window in which everything can still be done, and after which nothing can. Once symptoms start, in dogs or humans, there is no cure. That sentence deserves reading twice.
What it looks like in animals
Two faces: the furious form, unusual aggression, biting at everything, excessive drooling; and the quieter dumb form, a normally lively dog gone withdrawn, wobbly, jaw hanging, "choking on something". A wild animal acting tame, or a tame animal acting wild, is the classic warning. Never hand-feed or handle strays behaving strangely.
If a dog bites you or your child
Wash the wound immediately with soap under running water for a full 15 minutes; this genuinely reduces risk. Then get to a hospital for post-exposure vaccination the same day. Do not wait to "watch the dog", do not rely on traditional treatments; the human vaccine works when given promptly. Identify the dog if safely possible so its vaccination status can be checked.
Your part as an owner
Vaccinate every dog and cat yearly against rabies, keep the card, and never let vaccination lapse because "he does not go out". Vaccinating your pet protects your family, your neighbours' children, and honestly, your dog's life, because a bite incident involving an unvaccinated dog rarely ends well for the dog.
Anti-rabies vaccination is a 15-minute home visit, card updated on the spot. This week of all weeks, check the card.
When was your pet's last rabies shot?
If the answer takes thinking, it is due. Anti-rabies is a 15-minute home visit that protects your whole household.
