A case of rabies in a man confirmed in Spain

In the Spanish province of Biscay, a man accepted in the Hospital Universitario de Cruces de Vizcaya in December 2019  was confirmed to be infected with rabies virus after being bitten by a cat in Morocco in August the same year.

In the Basque Country, Spain, in the last 30 years there has been no case of rabies. However, we reported a case of Rabies in Ceuta, the Spanish autonomous city on the north coast of Africa in a puppy arrived from Morocco in August this year. Moreover, a year ago, a man died in the UK after being bitten by a cat in Morocco.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control reports four cases of rabies in people in the EU in 2019, all four travel-related: in May, Norway confirmed one rabies-related death following infection in the Philippines. In December, one case was reported in Latvia (returning from India), Italian authorities confirmed the death of a traveler who was bitten by a dog while staying in Tanzania and one in Spain following infection in Morocco

Even though we have very successful preventive measures against rabies in Europe we should not forget that rabies is still a global threat estimated to cause 59 000 human deaths annually in over 150 countries, with 95% of cases occurring in Africa and Asia.

Read the original article (in Spanish):
Confirmado el caso de rabia humana en España

On January 17, 2020 Spanish authorities reported a new case of rabies in a dog in the autonomous city of Melilla.
Original article (in Spanish): Detectan un nuevo caso de rabia canina en España

 

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