Anger In Wild Animals
Rabies is the viral disease considered to be the deadliest zoonosis in the world, causing more than 60,000 deaths per year and is one of the conditions that demonstrate that people’s health is closely related to animal and wildlife health.
Rabies is transmitted to humans through domestic animals, as pets are the easiest to transmit this disease and, of course, because they live with us. It is estimated that 99% of cases of transmission to humans are through dog bites. That’s why the main way to protect yourself against this condition is the rabies campaign for dogs.
However, this disease affects a large number of wild animals, which act as reservoirs and are the ones that infect dogs. That’s why knowing the implications of this disease on wildlife is vitally important to eradicating it.
Anger: a bit of history
There are mentions of this disease in ancient Greece, through Aristotle himself, who described the symptoms of rabies in dogs and humans and who related his infection to the bite of one of them. In fact, rabies is in part the origin of the werewolf myth, because some of its symptoms in humans coincide with the lycanthropy stories.
Later, the virus spread across the United States, after the arrival of the Europeans, who brought in animals that spread the contagion. No cure was found until the discoveries of Louis Pasteur, who created a vaccine and saved young Joseph Meister’s life in 1885.
the anger cycles
The urban cycle is what causes the greatest danger to human beings: the aforementioned dog bites on people, together with those of other pets, such as cats, ferrets and raccoons.
However, the wild cycle is also important, that is, the cycle that expands the disease into wild animal populations that then infect dogs. Its control is much more complicated, as we cannot vaccinate thousands of wild animals.
Rabies in wild animals
In Europe, the wild cycle is played by the red fox. It has been possible to reduce the prevalence of the disease through oral vaccination, that is, some foods are left in the forest and act as a vaccine. Despite these measures, the condition in foxes is a threat in Eastern Europe.
Rabies affects other European animals such as the wolf. Although attacks by these animals on people are practically non-existent, the virus produces changes in the behavior of wild animals and makes them less fearful and more aggressive.
In the United States, one of the animals most affected by the virus is the raccoon. It is responsible for almost 40% of the rabies in the east of the country. Other animals play an important role, such as jackals, skunks, badgers and other wild carnivores.
We’ve already mentioned some animals with this disease, and that the popularity of exotic animals such as the raccoon and raccoon, and their subsequent abandonment, means that the urban and wild cycles are now even more connected.
Irresponsible possession of exotic animals has become another factor to consider, as wild raccoon populations in Spain are much more likely to bite people than other wild animals.
Bats are of great importance in the transmission of the disease: some strains of the virus are exclusive to this species, which can infect others and are considered a risk to these emerging pests. Although bites of this species in humans are very rare. In fact, there were cases of infection without bites when entering caves with a high presence of infected animals.
Anger and unit health
Rabies is a disease that helps us understand the concept of unitary health and understand the importance of veterinarians in people’s health. Veterinary research has greatly reduced the prevalence of wild virus cycles, which has reduced spread to dogs.
In addition, the huge reduction in cases in Europe was due to vaccination campaigns carried out by these professionals across the continent, which allowed many countries to reduce to zero cases of this disease in people. Anger shows us the enormous contribution of veterinary medicine to human health.
