Rabies

On Saturday, I found a stray dog outside our house in a close off Winchcombe Road, just off Harare Drive. It was in shocking condition and its entire head and front legs were covered in blood. It was barely moving, but I could see it was still breathing. I phoned the vet at Borrowdale Lane Veterinary Surgery, and was able to collect a vet who came to the house and euthanised the dog. The vet suspected Rabies, so the dog was stored over the weekend in the cold room at the University of Zimbabwe Veterinary Department, and on Monday morning I took it to the Government Vet on Borrowdale Road.  They phoned me late yesterday afternoon to confirm that the dog tested positive for rabies.

 

The concerning thing is that on examination, the vet found many puncture wounds on the dog, and suspected it had been in a fight with other dogs in the area. Which means that there are now possibly other dogs roaming the Greystone Park area carrying the rabies virus...

 

Please pass the message on and check your pets vaccinations are up to date!

 

Leona

 

iom@zol.co.zw
From  EWdwe

My 6 year old daughter and my husband were attacked by an unknown dog this weekend at our gate. The dog was put down and sent to be tested for rabies and the results came back positive. We all started the Rabies vaccines the day after the incident, Michael Galfand Clinic was amazing. Our doctors rooms and vets have been amazing too.

It has been one of the scariest weeks of my life and i just wanted to use our experience to warn people about rabies. I have spent time this week talking to various people in different areas of the country and it is a terrible outbreak - we are on a farm only one hour out of Harare,in Shamva, but at the clinic they said they have had people in with reports of rabies in Harare too. There are a lot of dogs appearing on the road sides and roaming all over the place so be aware.

With an outbreak like this please please don't pick up any stray animals of any sort and take them into your home, rather report them if you think they are in need.

If you get bitten by an animal you don't know - irrigate the wound with disinfectant as much as you can and get to the doctor to start your vaccines straight away.

Also go and speak to the vet's in your area to help start vaccinating programs and to educate people about how to properly care for their animals and keep rabies vaccines up to date. I know this is nothing new but there is a lot more of it around and communities need to come together on this because it is a horrible thing to have lurking around the people and animals of Zimbabwe.

 

Take care

 

Sandy