“The precaution that the population has to take is the same one that has been recommended for years. First: responsible ownership of animals; cats and dogs have to be vaccinated against rabies from three months and once a year because that will prevent transmission to humans in case there are bites or contacts with humans,” he explained.
“If there is bare-glove or unprotected contact with bats or wild animalslike foxeswhat must be done, if possible, is to isolate the animal That way you can know if it has rabies or not, but if that animal doesn’t, you can study what What can be done is make a complaint and there is the possibility of post-exposure vaccination,” continued the health minister.
The case of the bat in the capital was reported after a woman reported that her cat had hunted this animal. The owner of the cat asked if the bat could be studied, something to which the laboratory of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries agreed, according to the director of Zoonoses of the Ministry of Public Health, Gabriela Willat, told Underlined.
A lumino-fluorescence study determined that the bat was a carrier of the rabies virus, which is transmitted by saliva although in the case of these mammals that does not mean that there has to be a bite. “Since they live in a community and lick each other, the virus can be on the skin of bats. Bare-hand contact with a bat implies that there is already a riskWillat warned.
For this reason, the director of Zoonoses recommended do not handle bats without protection. The alternative then is have gloves or use items such as a shovel to avoid direct contact. The other recommendation is to have pets, whether they are dogs or cats, vaccinated against rabieswhich is part of the vaccination scheme for domestic animals, as long as it is up to date.
In the statement announcing the case, the ministry indicated that “although there have been no cases of human rabies in Uruguay since 1966 or in dogs since 1983, the current situation is risky for people and pets that come into contact with bats, because the virus maintains an air cycle in these insectivorous animals in our country”.
Due to this, the National Honorary Commission on Zoonoses of the Ministry and authorities of the Municipality of Montevideo began tours of the city center vaccinating dogs and cats.
