Dogs, infected with rabies have the propensity of transforming their victims into werewolves. Someone bitten by a rabid dog is very likely to bark and bites like one. This explains a recent campaign by the concerned Government department to ensure that dog owners have them vaccinated against rabies.
The Post met and chatted with Dr. Bertha Anyizi Nkemnyi, a Buea based veterinary Doctor on how to keep rabies related issues at bay. She was open, so open that she also told the story of one of these latter day “miracle” pastors who resorted to “rebuking the devil out of a dog” when the poor animal was merely suffering from a rabies infection. Read on:
What is Rabies?
Rabies is a disease of canine. When I say canine, I am referring to animals like cats and dogs. You can still have pigs, even though it is rare. It’s just like what a layman would say a disease of madness because when the animal gets mad, it bites anything on its way, it salivates and becomes uncontrollable.
We’ve had a case in Buea maybe two or three years back, someone had a dog and it bit her. She said the dog was behaving funny. The dog was digging something when it bit her and she never reported it. We always say rabies kill faster than AIDS. When you are bitten by a rabid dog, if the dog happens to bite you near your nerve and the virus gets to your nerve, there is no remedy.
If you are bitten by a rabid dog or you suspect it as one, and you have never taken anti-rabies for human, just go and start taking your anti- rabies if it is a dog that has not been vaccinated against rabies. Not all dogs bite because of rabies. There are provoked bites. A dog can loiter and it is provoked when it is taking care of its young ones. When someone whom the dog doesn’t know passes by, it gets provoked.
What causes rabies?
Rabies is a disease caused by the rabies virus. It has an incubation period of fourteen days and by the third week, it starts manifesting its symptoms. Humans who are infected with the virus, start to bark and bite like a dog; that is why we say it’s a disease of madness. Like the case in Muyuka, it was very funny because this dog had bitten seven people, including its owner.
Luckily, one person went and reported it to a veterinary clinic and they started tracing the dog. The owner said he had gone out to look for it but did not see the dog. This dog went to a pastor’s compound and bit his wife. Thank God, she was tying a loin on her gown; she left the loin and ran into the house; the dog went and started biting a plantain until it fell.
It went to another one; the pastor thought the dog was possessed and started praying, rebuking the devil out of the dog. That is why we say people need to be sensitized. Had it been the pastor knew there was something like rabies, he would not have been saying ‘I rebuke the demon out of you’.
A rabid dog can still bite you and you don’t end up with rabies, depending on the area of bite. If the virus does not get to your nerve, where it attacks humans and bites you anywhere else you can be free from it but make sure you take enough precautions on time, but if the virus gets to your nerve there is nothing you can do about it.
What are the manifestations of someone who has been bitten by a rabid dog? You can still have the quiet type that is no biting or barking. The person becomes very thirsty, yet, he or she can’t drink. You see the effects as the person starts to salivate. It’s a very deadly disease. That is why if there is a case, they will say it’s a pandemic. Just like polio, when one case is discovered, it has to be treated, because it kills faster. So they just have to treat the whole area as an infected area.
What treatment is required for rabies?
Prevention not treatment; there are vaccines that are meant for rabies. You inject yourself against rabies. For someone who has been bitten by a rabid dog, there are also vaccines for you start the treatment on the first day. You inject yourself on day 7, 14, 21 and 28. There are five of them for someone who has been bitten.
The vaccine can be found at the ‘Centre Pasteur’ in Yaoundé. At first they usually had it around, but it’s not something that is highly in demand. So when you are bitten, normally they cut the head of the dog and take it to the theatre for it to be tested. The one in Muyuka was tested positive. That is why there is the campaign for everyone to vaccinate their dogs.
There are fake vaccines around. You may take them thinking your dog is protected, so you should beware of the kind of vaccine they are using. There are also fake technicians outside who use anything in the form of vaccine. There is what we call a label after you use the vaccine they are removed at the bottom of the vaccine and attached to your book. You should be sure it is genuine. Some people go and scan them.
What happens to the one bitten by a rabid dog, but who is not quickly attended to?
You should be careful that your dogs are vaccinated in the right places by the right persons and with the right vaccines.
The person starts manifesting its symptoms three weeks after. If you start taking the treatment immediately it could stop the virus from getting to your brain .Animals which are not vaccinated can easily have it. Bats can transmit the disease. If you have your dog confined in your compound it is very difficult for it to get the disease.
That is why the dog law in Nigeria states that stray dogs should be shot. They gave that order because dogs which are left loose are the ones who eat from garbage heaps and as a consequence can easily get the disease; but if your dog is confined, it would be difficult. We advise that people who have dogs should confine them.
If you can’t confine, then, don’t have one, because, your dog is not only dangerous to people outside, but equally to you in the house. I know a family who had to spend a lot of money because their dog had rabies and bit so many people; they spent so much to treat them. The pets we have are equally important as ourselves and that is why it is said, "the man you see is the meat he eats."
If you eat good meat you will look good; if you have healthy animals, you too will be healthy. But if your animals are dirty, you will be bringing diseases upon yourself. So we should try as much as possible to take care of them, so that they should not become health risks to us.
Should meat from animal infected by rabies be avoided, and why?
If a dog which has rabies kills another animal, we should not even eat it. Look at what is going on with Ebola, because people eat dead animals. That is why we always say you should not be pound foolish and penny wise. We should not eat dead animals because you don’t know what killed them. We should not eat animals that were not properly slaughtered or hunted.
Do dogs easily perceive dog eaters?
Yes, you see, dogs abroad are used as detective animals to catch criminals. What happens is, they can take your clothes and give to the dog to smell because there is a natural acid in everyone of us. Yours is different from mine, so when it gets that smell it can easily pick you out from a crowd. Dogs can easily detect dog eaters because the dog’s sweat acid is found in their sweat. When you eat and sweat, you may be passing by and a dog attacks you.
You would be wondering what the animal is doing? You become an enemy to it.
