World Rabies Day Travel Insurance

The woman had travelled to Goa in India for a ten-day holiday and stopped to stroke a puppy on a lead. It is not clear whether she sought treatment locally or simply ignored the bite. Certainly, by the time symptoms of the disease appeared, it was too late to do anything to help her.

Rabies is a lethal viral infection that can be prevented in two ways: first, by pre-travel vaccination - a course of three simple injections that should be routinely discussed and explained to every traveller visiting high-risk destinations - and secondly, by prompt immunisation following an animal bite, using one of several regimens recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Though effective, post-exposure immunisation is painful, needs specialist advice and depends on a scarce and expensive anti-serum that is not available in many places where rabies poses most risk. Anti-rabies treatment after a bite can cost thousands of pounds.

The interval between an animal bite and the onset of symptoms can vary from a few days to months or years (the longest recorded gap is 19 years): often long enough to give a false illusion that the danger has passed.

Perhaps we have come to think of places such as Goa as now being so accessible and so run-of-the-mill that no special precautions are necessary. The reality is quite different

Street dogs should never be approached or handled. Even a lick or a scratch can result in rabies transmission. A recent study in Thailand showed that eight per cent of visitors were licked, one in 100 visitors were bitten, and that seven per cent of street dogs were rabid. All mammals can transmit rabies. Children are at particular risk - they are less likely to be afraid of animals and may be unable to tell their parents that they have been bitten.

Rabies is one travel-related danger that truly can be under our own control: every traveller needs to understand the risks, the vital need for skilled help following a bite, and the benefits of a vaccine that should be used much more widely.
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