Permanent veterinary rubric presenter - Chief medical officer of veterinary hospital "Centra" - Sergey V. SEREDA
About two months ago we were talking about different kinds of vaccinations, which are necessary for dogs and cats. Among them there is a vaccination against rabies. Now we will speak about this disease in details, since it poses danger both for men and animals.
Rabies is an acute infectious disease, caused by virus. It displays itself as disorders of central nervous system activity. People know about it from early times. As far as in 5 century B.C. Demokrit mentioned this disease, and only at the beginning of 19th century it was proved that this disease is infectious. Some years later the nature of rabies was determined and it became clear that it is a viral disease. The pathogen of rabies belongs to a family of Microviruses that contain ribonucleic acid inside.
Rabies can be found in almost all countries except for England, Australia, New Zealand, Seychelles and Mauritius. In all other countries rabies is still registered each year, in spite of the fact that doctors try to vaccinate as many animal as possible. In fact all kinds of animals are susceptible to rabies, especially dogs. Foxes and wolves are main natural carriers. Every year cases of rabies of wild and farming animals are registered in suburbs of Moscow, Tver and Yaroslavl. Unfortunately Moscow region still stays the nidus of rabies for last years. Rabies hasn't been registered in Moscow itself for several tens of years. Those cases that have happened are "presents" of adjacent regions. The last case of disease happened two years ago, when a dog that had been bitten by a rabid fox, bit a boy who fell ill.
The incubation period lasts from 14 days to 3 months and according to some scientific data - up to several years. The infection of rabies is transferred through saliva. It was established, that 8-10 days before first clinical signs of disease appear, rabies virus could be found in saliva of dog. Therefore the animal is checked up twice from the moment it was bitten: on the 1st and 10th day. The only way to protect from rabies is inoculation. Here one question stands up: if the inoculation against rabies is dangerous for animals themselves?
There is an opinion among holders of dogs and cats that one shouldn't do vaccination because the inoculation is dangerous. In deed, for long years the phenol vaccine has been applied that was dangerous since caused strong allergic reaction. In Moscow this vaccine is not applied now. Another one is used - Shchelkova-51. In our clinic we've been working with this vaccine for already 7 years. And through all this time there was no any complication. In addition to domestic vaccine (we must say, one of the best) other monovalent (against single disease) and polyvalent (against several diseases) vaccines are applied in Russia. Hexadog is one of them.
Vaccination of animals against rabies begins from the third month after birth. An animal should be healthy and examined by a vet. Thermometry should be conducted. It is not recommended to inoculate pregnant and nursing animals if there is no big need for this. Before vaccination a holder of animal should take all measures to eliminate helminthes. One should give trantal or other medication.
A special vaccination scheme exists, but a vet himself will tell you all about this when you'll bring your pet to him.
Translated by Tatiana Karpova (Moscow)
(MSU, Biology faculture, Dep. zoology and ecology).