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Post-Tsunami
rabies outbreak alarm in India, Sri Lanka
Washington:
The threat of a rabies outbreak after the December 26
tsunami disaster has raised an alarm in the affected South
Asian countries including India. A dog vaccination programme
has already been initiated in Sri Lanka. Although there
are no immediate signs of rabies in India and Thailand,
an infected dog has been identified in Sri Lanka. Asia Pacific
director of The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW),
Mick McIntyre, who has recently returned from Thailand after
assessing the wildlife situation there, said that they are
helping to vaccinate around 2000 dogs along a 42 kilometre
stretch of the Sri Lankan coast south of Galle. "In Sri
Lanka they have found an animal with rabies so it's a matter
of getting to as many of the other dogs as possible to vaccinate
them. It's all clear in India and Thailand so far but we're
monitoring the situation," ABC Online quoted McIntyre as
saying. According to animal experts, though many wild animals
survived the tsunami, as they "sensed" the danger and made
for high ground, domestic animals and livestock didn't do
as well and are now at risk of contracting infections, which
could spread to already devastated human population.
Animal
welfare organisations fear that since the tsunami many dogs
have been ownerless and they are now breeding with the already
large population of stray street dogs. This means an increased
threat of rabies spreading among the dogs and infecting
people. McIntyre has warned that cats and other species
of exotic animals kept as pets, such as monkeys, were in
a similar position and some of these animals could potentially
act as reservoirs for more sinister human-to-animal diseases
like SARS.
- Feb 2, 2005
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