The proprietor of a restaurant in Vietnam that focuses on the meat of canine and cats died after contracting rabies from one of many animals he slaughtered.
Nguyen Van B., 33, from the southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, began exhibiting symptoms three days before his death.
According to native reviews, he had solely handled cat and dog meat and had not been bitten by an animal, nevertheless it is feasible to get rabies from dealing with meat from a rabid animal, particularly if there are breaks in an individual’s pores and skin.
The primary signs Mr Van B skilled had been fatigue and issue respiratory.
His household took him to the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases the place exams confirmed Mr Van B had rabies.
Once signs begin, rabies is sort of One hundred pc deadly and there’s no accredited remedy for the sickness. Knowing this, Mr Van B. requested to return dwelling.
Back dwelling, his situation shortly worsened and he skilled muscle spasms, frothing on the mouth, and confusion.
On December 19, Mr Van B was rushed to Ba Ria Hospital and put beneath steady sedation till he lastly succumbed to the illness.
The proprietor of a restaurant in Vietnam that focuses on the meat of canine and cats died after contracting rabies from one of many animals he slaughtered (inventory picture)
Eating canine meat is a longstanding custom in Vietnam, primarily within the north of the nation.
The sale and consumption of canine and cat meat is authorized in Vietnam, regardless of being unlawful in lots of components of the world.
In the US, the World Population Review highlights that technically the nation ‘lacks a state legislation banning the consumption of canine and cats’.
However, the statistic and inhabitants evaluation web site notes that Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act proscribed the ‘transportation, supply, possession, and slaughter of canine and cats for human consumption.’
It provides: ‘The act contains an exception for native rituals. Certain Native American tribes have a historical past or a convention of consuming canine together with the Kickapoo tribe in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
‘In normal, canine slaughter is allowed in 44 states of America. The solely states which have mentioned no canine meat are California, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.’
In Vietnam, canine is a well-liked dish for particular events, events and reunions and is taken into account to have wide-ranging well being advantages, from a person’s virility, to each day protein and power.
But more and more, there are animal welfare considerations that there might be critical implications for human well being.
The World Health Organization has warned the slaughter and consumption of canine does pose dangers to human well being together with rabies and cholera, an acute diarrheal an infection.
A ballot commissioned by Humane Society International in September 2023 discovered 40 % of the Vietnamese inhabitants eat canine meat, whereas 21 % eat cat meat.
They discovered canine meat is hottest amongst males in northern Vietnam whereas cat meat dishes are notably widespread round Hanoi.
Outrage over the canine commerce arises each few years, and polls counsel there’s a rising destructive sentiment in the direction of it amongst younger Vietnamese folks.
Eating canine meat is a longstanding custom in Vietnam, primarily within the North of the nation (inventory picture)
More younger folks have began to assist a ban on canine and cat meat and don’t consider cat and canine meat is part of Vietnamese tradition.
A latest Humane Society ballot discovered 68 % of individuals assist a ban on the canine meat commerce.
Rabies, if caught early on the day of an infection, might be handled with a vaccine. Treatment usually includes a collection of rabies vaccine pictures.
The rabies vaccine is given in 4 doses on days 0, 3, 7, and 14.
But if the virus is ready to take maintain, it has a near-One hundred pc dying price.
The virus enters the physique by means of an open wound, normally from an contaminated animal’s chew or scratch.
It then replicates in muscle cells close to the an infection web site, then travels alongside nerves to the central nervous system.
Once the virus reaches the mind, it binds to nerve cells the place it may well replicate uncontrollably and quickly, erupting in a constellation of signs beginning with
As the an infection advances, it results in respiratory spasms that trigger gasping, wheezing, and tightness within the chest.
This course of can take wherever from per week to a month. But because the illness worsens, paralysis units in, beginning with the limbs, then the mind and different organs.
The an infection nearly all the time ends in coma and dying inside a couple of weeks after the onset if a vaccine shouldn’t be administered promptly.
Rabies kills round 70,000 folks worldwide yearly, although most deaths are concentrated in international locations with insufficient public well being assets, comparable to wide-reaching vaccination applications for folks and animals.
In the US, fewer than 10 circumstances of rabies happen every year in people.
The vaccine might be given after an individual is uncovered and is One hundred pc efficient if administered inside 48 hours of publicity and earlier than signs seem.
Worldwide, canine are the main carriers of rabies. In the US, 39 states require rabies vaccination for canine.
But within the US, round 70 % of rabies infections come up from publicity to bats.
