Canine rabies imported into Spain

On 5th June this year, the first case of canine rabies was detected in mainland Spain since 1978.

A dog bit four children and an adult in four different places around Toledo before it was killed by police. Laboratory analysis confirmed that it had rabies.

The animal in question was Spanish, but had accompanied its owner on a four month visit to Morocco. It had subsequently spent time in several different parts of Spain, including Barcelona.

The owners of the dog changed their story about where they had been a number of times, which made it more difficult to trace everyone who may have come into contact with the dog. Media reports contain conflicting information, with one saying that the dog was vaccinated and another suggesting that the owner might have deliberately doctored veterinary records for the dog. The owners have been charged with negligence resulting in serious injury.

Spanish authorities set up a restricted area around Toledo, in which all dogs, cats, ferrets and other relevant companion animals underwent compulsory vaccination.  All human and animal contacts are being followed up and offered PEP.

Spain has had rabies-free status since 1978, but guidelines for vaccination vary between autonomous regions. The economic crisis in Spain, which has left over 27% of the population unemployed, including over half the country’s young people, has not been kind to companion animals, particularly dogs and cats.

Spain is the gateway to Europe from Africa, with regular ferry crossings to Morocco and the Spanish autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla on the North African Mainland. Last year, a Dutch couple managed to move a puppy they had picked up in Morocco through Spain to the Netherlands, where it developed rabies (see here). Controls to limit disease spread are in place, but clearly not always enforced.

During the recent incident in Toledo, the authorities reacted quickly and the protocol was observed. However, because canine rabies cases have been unknown in Spain for so long, there is little public knowledge of the disease.

Some of the newspaper reports in the wake of the Toledo incidents did not, for example, mention that the disease, once contracted, is almost always fatal. One newspaper referred to it as “serious”.

Thankfully, protocols are in place and have been quickly acted upon but rabies has, in other respects, been forgotten, and there are clearly inadequacies in enforcement.

Contributed by Jane Coutts of GARC who lives in rural Spain. It is based on news reports in El Pais from June 13th and June 15th, and in the Telegraph on June 11th and some personal observations. The  Ministry of Health report is available here. The 1975-8 outbreak in Spain, originating in Málaga, affected 126 animals (dogs and cats) and killed one person.