Canada: Human rabies case reported in Ontario. First case in the province in decades

well hey everybody this is Robert and welcome to today's podcast now on today's podcast we're gonna take a look at a recently diagnosed human rabies case in Ontario Canada now according to health officials with the Brandt County Health Unit they reported the confirmation of a human case of rabies in a resident of Brantford brand now the suspected exposure of the case was from a bat in the gaanda area of the timis caming region according to officials as of Friday the individual is currently being hospitalized so to give you give you a little bit of a picture of uh the location of this cake um here's a map you can see the province of Ontario Ontario is south of the Hudson Bay north of the Great Lakes in Eastern Canada and to get a more uh specific view of Brandt County which is actually a city in Southern Ontario uh you can see it it's in the red it's about a 100 kilom from Toronto and about 450 kilm from the capital of Ottawa now there has never been a confirmed case of rabies human rabies in a Brantford Brandt resident prior to this recent case now Ontario's last domestic case of human rabies occurred in 1967 and there have been 26 human cases in Canada since 1924 and you can see that um about half of them were from Quebec seven from Ontario and the rest from uh four other provinces now in Canada the last human case of rabies was transmitted from a non-flying animal from a non-bat the last case was back in 1967 so it's been a very long time since then all human cases of rabies in Canada have been due to the exposure to bats or exposures while in another country and here you can see the list of the most recent human exposures since 2000 and the last exposure prior to this one was in British Columbia in 2019 now concerning animal rabies in Canada uh officials report since 2000 the number of reported rabies positive animals has declined largely due to a very good control programs now in recent years rabies infections have primarily been reported in bats all across the country in Saskatchewan Manitoba and ontario' seen them in skunks in Ontario Quebec and New Brunswick we've seen them in re Coons and we've seen foxes as the source of rabies in none of it and the Northwest Territories as well as Northern parts of Quebec Manitoba and Labrador now as far as total rabies cases and animals in 2024 so far there's been 42 total cases and the vast majority 36 of them have been in bats so let's go ahead and flip over some rabies information just to give you an overview of of this incredibly lethal disease now rabies is an acute viral infection that is transmitted to humans or other mammals usually through the saliva from a bite of an infected animal it is also rarely contracted through breaks in the skin or contact with mucus membranes and then there's a few other very very very rare uh types of transmission now according to the control of communicable diseases manual all mammals are susceptible to rabies raccoons skunks foxes bats dogs coyotes and cats are the likely suspects other animals like otter and ferrets are also considered high risk now mammals like rabbits and squirrels and rodents are rarely infected typically these type of animals uh they are usually killed before they can actually contract rabies from the Predator um how do infected animals appear well they can appear very aggressive attacking for no reason some may act very tame they may look like they are foaming at the mouth or drooling because they cannot swallow their saliva sometimes the animal May stagger but this can also be seen in distemper not long after this point they will die most animals can transmit rabies days before showing symptoms so what kind of symptoms do you see in humans initially like in many diseases the symptoms are non-specific right fever headache and malaise and this may last for several days now at the sight of the bite there may be some pain and discomfort symptoms then progress to more severe confusion delirium abnormal behavior and hallucinations if it gets this far the disease is nearly 100% fatal so what should you do if you are bitten by a wild animal or an unknown domestic animal first you should clean the wound well with soap and water for 5 to 10 minutes this will help reduce the chance of getting other bacterial infections and some studies show that it can reduce the likelihood of getting rabies and contact your healthc care provider go see your family physician or go to the emergency room though it's technically not a medical emergency it's very important to seek medical attention very quickly though um so proper And Timely treatment can be given if you have to shoot or otherwise kill the animal take care not to damage the head the brain will be required for rabies testing now your doctor will evaluate the type of exposure whether a bite or a scratch and the type of animal that you had contact with if postexposure treatment is required it is likely to be a combination of rabies immune globuline or IRG and rabies vaccine the rig is given in one dose uh rig is basically pre-formed antibody that will provide immediate protection until you respond to the vaccine now the vaccine will help you produce antibody to the virus but this takes some time now according to the CDC in the United States the rig should if possible be given around the wound itself and any remaining rig should be given intramuscularly away from the bite rabies vaccines is it's not like the old days when it used to like 20 shots in the stomach now it's four shots in the shoulder area and a possible fifth shot if you have a confirmed or suspected immune disorder now to learn more about rabies please explore this channel the outbreak news tv YouTube channel and we have a number of informative videos about rabies and I will link to them uh Below in this video and if you like this video if you like the channel subscribe like the video comment below share it with your friends and I'll see you next time on outbreak news TV