How come you never hear about rabies these days?

[Taytoface]

I remember travelling to France as a kid, and having the car sprayed on the way back, and posters everywhere about rabies. Anyone remember the film the Mad Death? Fucking terrifying.

I don't even think the bat shit Brexiteers ramped up rabies fear as part of the leave campaign.

Is it just not that common in Europe any more?

A taboo?

I was referring to the foaming of the mouth but I may have that wrong now that I think about it

I suppose because I assume rabies is passed animal to animal and having spent a bit of time in Morocco there are places where it’s very very difficult to avoid the wild animals. Certainly when I was there it was constantly on my mind as there were wild kittens absolutely everywhere, and it was nearly impossible to avoid them in restaurants as they sat under tables waiting for scraps and nestling up to people.

A place like Marrocco will never say an area is rabies safe.

I remember reading the linked article - what shocked me was that the woman had no more than a minor scratch from the puppy. In her shoes, I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it (as she didn't).

I’m sure . But then I also wonder how seriously you’d be taken trying to get post exposure treatment after being licked by a kitten under the restaurant table when this happens to locals every second of every day.

I think I remember this and that it was terrifying. Also was there something about being scared of water? Or maybe that was just for the show.

On a private clinic you will do just fine. Make sure you have good travel insurence. I wouldn't go without the jabs and even then seek doctor if exposed to rabies.

I remember a friend trying to get me to sign a petition for Ukrainian refugees to be allowed to bring their pets straight over - I pointed out Rabies was still rife in Ukraine so it wouldn’t be a good idea to import a load of animals from there without vaccine checks and quarantine. Rabies just hadn’t occurred to her.

I am a GP in a rabies free country.
i talk to people all the time going on really expensive holidays to rabies prone areas eg Africa and refusing to spend on pre exposure rabies vaccines .. they are utterly utterly bonkers .. rabies is around.

I was diagnosed with toxoplasmosis years ago, a few months after a visit to Morocco - I always thought it came from feral stray cats everywhere, even though I avoided them like the plague!

That’s right. Hydrophobia is a sign of advanced rabies.

You can pick up toxoplasmosis easily in the uk too. Not just feral cats either.

I recall lot of fear when the channel tunnel was being built - people thought infected rodents might make their way through the tunnel, bringing rabies into the UK.

As far as I know that didn't happen, but it was definitely a thing at the time.

It is estimated that between 10% and 30% of the uk population has been infected with this. It can subtly change your behaviour too - people infected with toxoplasmosis are 5% more likely to have a car accident.

Wow really? Where does that stat come from please? I've never met anyone else that's had toxoplasmosis, let alone anyone that's caught it In the UK. Although maybe it's not just something people introduce themselves with 😂

i grew up in a developing country and my parents gave me the absolute fear about any stray animal in case it had rabies. Absolutely not allowed to touch any dog where we didn’t know the owners and that it was vaccinated. Even now I’m nervous! That poor woman in Morocco wasn’t even scratched badly by the pup, I don’t think it even broke the skin. And the boy in Canada recently, he had woken up with a bat lying on his mouth (v odd). Hideous hideous disease. My parents saw people dying from it in west Africa, along with leprosy patients, a disease you hardly even hear about now.

I remember being warned about it when I was a kid holidaying in France and Spain in the 80s. When we went to Italy last year there were slightly mangy cats everywhere and the teens loved them. DH worried about rabies so I googled it and found that Western Europe is considered rabies free.

In the UK you can catch
Toxoplasmosis from gardening or from cleaning litter trays. I was tested for it in pregnancy.

I doubt many people even know they have it. For most the infection is symptomless or minor so they would never have been investigated.

I got the pre-exposure vaccine course before my first trip to east Africa. Then the booster to schedule.
I was very relieved that I had, when a few years later, in the same region, I was attacked by a pack of dogs (while minding my own business) and got a deep bite from one of them.

Fortunately I was reasonably near to a hospital, where I had the course of post-exposure jabs. I'm told that I'm now pretty much covered for life. I hope that's right, because the shortages mean that there's absolutely no vaccine in the country I visit regularly. The number of people (mostly children) who are now dying of rabies there, is terrifying.

Leprosy is easily treatable and completely curable these days with antibiotics.

The plague is another one that still exists though easily cured if treated early.

Ds is visiting India soon and I found to my horror that he hadn’t organised any vaccinations for himself (he’s in his early 20s). Rabies vaccination was definitely recommended along with others and he’s now done it.

What worries me is that he has had one injection and no follow up recommended, though I did ask. Going to have to check again.

I have a memory of a grainy clip on ?Nationwide or something in the 70s of a child who had recently died with hydrophobia, it was very brief but so horrifying it’s really stayed with me. I’m not sure it would be shown now because you could see the child’s face but perhaps the family had agreed to it to help people understand the importance of vigilance. I was afraid of it all my teenage years, reinforced by To Kill A Mockingbird.

The public information films back then seemed designed to instill fear in a lot of things!

They were Recycling. Unfortunately as a very sheltered child I was completely terrified by most of them. I still don’t watch scary things now, I did once watch a horror film because it was supposed to be a classic (and it’s very good) and I wish I hadn’t.