The Center of Disease Control warned pet owners yesterday to keep their animals up to date for rabies.
The warning follows Thursday's confirmation of the first death from human rabies infection in Taiwan in 43 years.
Although the victim was infected with rabies in China, the center warned pet owners to remain cautious nonetheless.
"Pet owners should make sure their pets receive rabies vaccinations on a regular basis, while stricter regulations should be implemented to control stray dogs," Hsu Kuo-hsiung (
"If the number of stray dogs is too large to carry out effective management, some of the stray dogs should be killed," Hsu said.
According to estimates from the Council of Agriculture, roughly 50 percent of domestic dogs in Taiwan have never been vaccinated for rabies. What's more, roughly 1.3 million stray dogs around the nation could become a potential health threat if they are not monitored closely.
On Wednesday, a 45 year-old Chinese woman visiting her sister in Hualien died from human rabies infection.
According to newspaper reports, the woman, surnamed Lo, was bitten by a stray dog in April near her home in Hunan, China.
The woman, who wasn't treated after the bite, arrived in Taiwan on May 22.
Within a month, Lo started suffering from rabies symptoms such as difficulty in swallowing, partial paralysis and hallucinations. She was later diagnosed by doctors at Tzu Chi Buddhist General Hospital as being infected with rabies.
According to the Center of Disease Control, Lo was the first person to die from human rabies infection in Taiwan since 1959.
"Taiwan and Japan are the only two nations that have successfully wiped out rabies in Asia," said Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), deputy director of the Department of Health.
After Lo died, her belongings were sterilized and doctors and nurses who had come into direct contact with her were given post-exposure vaccinations.
Blood tests for Lo's Taiwanese relatives and her doctors and nurses came up negative.
Rabies is a viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of an animal. Although non-bite exposure is rare, scratches from a rabid animal could also lead to infection, as well as coming into contact with a rabid animal's open wounds or mucous membranes contaminated with saliva or blood.
"Most rabies cases are animal-to-human transmissions. Although human-to-human transmissions can also occur, it's rare and we have never encountered such a case," Hsu said.
The rabies virus attacks the muscle and travels to the brain by moving within the body's nerves. The incubation period may last weeks or months.
When the virus reaches and multiplies in the brain, the first signs of rabies -- such as insomnia, confusion, partial paralysis, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing and hydrophobia -- will occur.
The virus will damage the brain and once the symptoms occur, the infected animal or person will die within a short period of time depending on the place of the bite.
Although there is no treatment for rabies after the symptoms appear, people can receive five doses of post-exposure prophylaxis -- vaccinations for people bitten by a rabid animal -- promptly after exposure in order to treat the disease during the incubation period.
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