RABIES: A VETERINARIANS'S CONCERN

Rabies is a zoonosis, affecting domestic and stray dogs, and other wild and domestic animals, in most parts of the world, including Pakistan. The practicing veterinarian has a key role to play in rabies control, in the maintenance of protection in the companion animal populations, in the education of the pet-owning community on rabies, and in the decision-making process that accompanies human exposure to potentially rabid animals. The role encompasses far more than the routine maintenance of health and well-being in pet animal populations. It is important to remain diligent in the immunisation of the people including veterinarians themselves and domestic pets against rabies. Most of the human rabies deaths occur in the tropical developing countries. Diagnosis by clinical signs alone is inadequate since many rabid dogs develop dumb rabies which can easily be overlooked and others die without showing signs of rabies. In addition there are evidences that the animal may recover from clinical rabies and may then intermittently excrete virus in the saliva-this condition is very hazardous, particularly to the individuals like practicing veterinarians as rabies virus may be excreted in the saliva before clinical signs appear and may lead to infection of an unsuspecting and untreated bite victim. In this article current concepts of rabies and its pathogenesis are briefly reviewed with a view to highlight some strategies and guidelines for the practicing veterinarians who must play their role (in addition to their routine responsibility of maintaining health in pet and farm animal populations) to prevent the transmission of rabies virus from the domestic and farm animals to the people including veterinarians themselves who are frequently exposed to these animals.