São Paulo has a case of animal rabies after 30 years

After 30 years with no detected cases of terrestrial animal rabies, rabies has returned to São Paulo state, Brazil. In December 2011, a cat with rabies virus was diagnosed and confirmed by the college of veterinary medicine, University of São Paulo. The cat lived in the southern city of São Paulo, near a park, was not vaccinated, and was probably infected by a bat. Rabies-infected bats often cannot fly away. Cats, like the one in this case, may chase bats that are not able to fly due to being infected with rabies, and get bitten by a bat trying to defend itself..

Following several adverse reactions to a rabies vaccine administered to dogs and cats (including some fatalities), the government of São Paulo decided to suspend the free rabies vaccination program for pets in 2010. More recently, the Ministry of Health has suspended vaccination of pets in 15 Brazilian states, which have also not recorded rabies cases occurrences of the disease in recent years.

The disease had been virtually eliminated from São Paulo state by vaccination, so this case is particularly alarming. A veterinarian, Ana Beatriz de Faria, believes that occasional adverse reactions to the vaccine should not impede the campaign. It is important to remember that vaccines are life-saving biologicals and all vaccines may have occasional adverse reactions.

Even with the suspension of the free vaccination campaign, many owners of dogs and cats have been continuing to immunize their pets, using private veterinary clinics.

Portalnews reported that this cat is being treated as an isolated case, and that vaccination has been conducted in cats and dogs in the surrounding
area. Focal vaccination campaigns are recommended when isolated cases are diagnosed in order to prevent rabies from spreading to other regions. The Ministry of Health has also decided to restart vaccination campaigns across the whole country this year, and the state of São Paulo has already received the vaccine to begin this year's campaign.

Summarised by Louise Taylor of GARC and Phyllis Romijn, scientific researcher at Pesquisadora PESAGRO-RIO, Brazil from reports by the TV network Record and Portalnews.