The Veterinary Services Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has said Ghana recorded 95 cases of the zoonotic disease nationwide between January and September 2024.
According to a Risk Communicator at the directorate, Dr Benjamin Sasu, 13 human cases of rabies and 8 confirmed deaths have been reported in the Upper East Region since the outbreak that was announced over a year ago.
The directorate has vaccinated “a total of five thousand four hundred and ten (5,410) dogs and one thousand, six hundred and thirty-one (1,631) cats through the campaign,” Dr Sasu told GhanaFact.
As part of measures to curb the outbreak, the GHS, since July 24, 2023 has in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and other development partners launched the National Rabies Prevention Campaign in Accra. The campaign was themed “Prevent the Bite or Scratch! Vaccinate your Dog! Stop Rabies Now!”
What is rabies?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rabies is “a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic, viral disease affecting the central nervous system. In up to 99% of the human rabies cases, dogs are responsible for virus transmission. Children between the age of 5 and 14 years are frequent victims.”
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Rabies infects mammals, including dogs, cats, livestock and wildlife.
Rabies spreads to people and animals via saliva, usually through bites, scratches, or direct contact with mucosa (e.g. eyes, mouth, or open wounds). Once clinical symptoms appear, rabies is virtually 100% fatal.
Symptoms of rabies
According to WHO, the incubation period for rabies is typically 2–3 months but may vary from one week to one year, depending on factors such as the location of virus entry and the viral load.
Initial symptoms of rabies include generic signs like fever, pain and unusual or unexplained tingling, pricking, or burning sensations at the wound site. As the virus moves to the central nervous system, progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord develops.
There are two forms of rabies:
- Furious rabies results in hyperactivity, excitable behaviour, hallucinations, lack of coordination, hydrophobia (fear of water) and aerophobia (fear of drafts or of fresh air). Death occurs after a few days due to cardio-respiratory arrest.
- Paralytic rabies accounts for about 20% of the total number of human cases. This form of rabies runs a less dramatic and usually longer course than the furious form. Muscles gradually become paralysed, starting from the wound site. A coma slowly develops and eventually, death occurs. The paralytic form of rabies is often misdiagnosed, contributing to the under-reporting of the disease.
Treatment and Prevention of rabies
Clinical rabies in people can be managed but very rarely cured, and not without severe neurological deficits.
WHO recommends the following ways to prevent rabies:
- Vaccinating dogs, including puppies, through mass dog vaccination programmes is the most cost-effective strategy for preventing rabies in people because it stops the transmission at its source.
- Public education for both children and adults on dog behaviour and bite prevention, what to do if bitten or scratched by a potentially rabid animal, and responsible pet ownership are essential extensions of rabies vaccination programmes.
By: Samuel Adjetey Adjei
