2 cases of rabies in Vietnam after butchering and eating a dog or a cat

Eating dog meat, and to a lesser extent cat meat, is common in Asia. In a case-based education article published by PLoS Medicine, Heiman Wertheim (Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Hanoi, Viet Nam) and colleagues describe two patients in Hanoi who died from laboratory-confirmed rabies.

Their symptoms developed after butchering, preparing, and consuming either a dog or a cat. The researchers were unable to test the butchered animals for rabies—so they cannot be entirely certain that these animals were the source of the rabies. Nevertheless, they caution that butchering of unvaccinated dogs and cats in rabies-endemic countries should be considered a risk factor for rabies transmission.

Citation: Wertheim HFL, Nguyen TQ, Nguyen KAT, de Jong MD, Taylor WRJ, et al. (2009) Furious rabies after an atypical exposure. PLoS Med 6(3): e1000044. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000044

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CONTACT:
Heiman Wertheim
Oxford University Clinical Research Unit - Hanoi
Bach Mai Hospital / NIITD
78 Giai Phong Street
Dong Da District
Hanoi, NA
Viet Nam
hwertheim@oucru.org