Vetnews | September 2024 6 « BACK TO CONTENTS 1. Introduction Rabies is endemic in South Africa. It is a zoonotic disease, which means that people can become infected by an infected animal. The rabies virus is transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal when it bites, scratches or licks a person. Rabies affects the brain and is fatal once a person or animal shows clinical signs. Animals infected with rabies show changes in behaviour and neurological signs. They may drool a lot, become paralysed, lose the ability to swallow, continuously vocalise (barking, whining, howling etc.), and become aggressive, or on the contrary, they may appear weak and unresponsive. Any mammal can become infected with rabies, but the biggest threat to human health is infected dogs and cats. South Africa is aiming for the goal of zero cases of dog-mediated human rabies cases by 2030, through the “National Strategy for the Elimination of Canine Mediated Human Rabies in South Africa”, which is available at https://www.dalrrd.gov.za/index.php/publication/425animal-health-information Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus), occur along the coast of Africa between southern Angola and Algoa Bay, South Africa. They are a social species that live close together in colonies. They are known to approach people and other animals out of curiosity or if motivated by food. They are predated on by wild carnivores on land, including black-backed jackals and brown hyenas. Cape fur seals can travel extensively in the ocean in search of food or territory, swimming hundreds of kilometres in a matter of days. Reports of Cape fur seals showing aggressive behaviour, especially towards people, have increased since several mass mortality events occurred in South Africa in 2021 and 2022. Initially, seal samples collected during one of these events in 2021 tested negative for rabies. The only known positive case of rabies in seals recorded in literature was of a ringed seal (Phoca hispida) in the Svalbard Islands (Norway) in 1980, which was associated with an outbreak in the arctic fox population. Rabies occurs in a wide range of wild and domesticated mammals, but this is the first detected occurrence in cape fur seals in Southern Africa. It should be emphasized that in South Africa, the vast majority of human rabies cases are caused by exposure to rabid dogs. 2. Background In June 2024, a rabies outbreak was detected in South African Cape fur seals, a species in which rabies has not been recorded previously. The events leading up to this detection started on 20 May 2024, when a three-year-old dog in Cape Town was euthanised at a private veterinary practice after showing signs of severe aggression which triggered a suspicion of rabies. The dog was sampled and its brain subsequently tested positive for rabies with the fluorescent antibody test (FAT). The owner of this dog suspected that the dog had been bitten by a Cape fur seal while walking on the beach two weeks before the onset of clinical signs. Shortly after this incident, there were reports of aggressive Cape fur seals from two Cape Town beaches. Two of these Cape fur seals subsequently tested positive for rabies. This finding triggered retrospective testing of stored samples collected from Cape fur seal mortalities (2021-2024) for rabies. Some of these retrospective samples have tested positive for rabies, indicating that this outbreak is not new. To date, positive samples originated from the South African coast between Yzerfontein and Plettenberg Bay and the earliest positive case so far occurred in August 2022. Rabies in Cape fur seals: outbreak update report 31 July 2024 Report compiled by: Directorate Animal Health Map 1: Reported outbreaks of rabies in Cape fur seals in the Western Cape Province. Note: Dots on the maps that indicate locations in close proximity might appear as single dots
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