11 August 2016
Muscat - A Bangladeshi national succumbed to the deadly zoonotic disease, rabies, at The Royal Hospital in Muscat Governorate on Monday in the first such fatality reported in the Sultanate in over a decade. An official of a private hospital chain that first received the patient said the victim was apparently exposed to the rabies virus during a visit to his native Bangladesh sometime earlier this year. "We understand the individual was bitten by a stray cat on his ankle when he had gone home earlier this year, but he failed to get his injury examined by a medical professional nor got himself vaccinated as a precaution," a representative said.
Returning to the Sultanate, the expatriate went about his normal work for several months until last week, when he began suffering symptoms like fever, flu, muscle ache, and so on. At the private hospital, tests pointed to evidence of rabies, whereupon the patient was transferred to The Royal Hospital where he passed away earlier this week.
"Usually it takes 4 to 12 weeks for a person to develop rabies symptoms once they are infected. But incubation periods for the rabies virus can vary wildly -- from a few days to six years. As the virus travels to the brain via the nerves, incubation can take longer depending upon the distance between the bite and the brain. If the bite occurs around the neck, for example, the incubation period can be very short. In the case of the Bangladeshi victim, he suffered a bite on his ankle, which explains the substantial period between the time of the bite and the onset of symptoms," the representative explained.
Significantly, the death was the ninth fatal case of rabies recorded in the Sultanate since August 1990 when the first domestic human case of rabies was diagnosed. Epidemiological investigations launched by authorities in the wake of a fox bite incurred by a schoolboy established the presence of sylvatic rabies in Oman at the time.
Since then, eight cases of rabies fatalities -- involving individuals bitten by rabid animals -- have been recorded. With the exception of an expatriate who was exposed to the virus abroad but developed the systems locally, all of the victims were Omanis.
Prior to the latest fatality, the last case known case was reported in 2003. The low incidence of the disease in Oman is attributed to the combination of animal bite surveillance, universal post-exposure prophylaxis and the low rate of dog rabies in Oman.
Under an anti-rabies vaccination policy implemented by the Ministry of Health, citizens as well as expatriates are entitled to free rabies vaccination -- in both government and private healthcare institutions -- if doctors suspect potential exposure to rabies infection.
Muscat - A Bangladeshi national succumbed to the deadly zoonotic disease, rabies, at The Royal Hospital in Muscat Governorate on Monday in the first such fatality reported in the Sultanate in over a decade. An official of a private hospital chain that first received the patient said the victim was apparently exposed to the rabies virus during a visit to his native Bangladesh sometime earlier this year. "We understand the individual was bitten by a stray cat on his ankle when he had gone home earlier this year, but he failed to get his injury examined by a medical professional nor got himself vaccinated as a precaution," a representative said.
Returning to the Sultanate, the expatriate went about his normal work for several months until last week, when he began suffering symptoms like fever, flu, muscle ache, and so on. At the private hospital, tests pointed to evidence of rabies, whereupon the patient was transferred to The Royal Hospital where he passed away earlier this week.
"Usually it takes 4 to 12 weeks for a person to develop rabies symptoms once they are infected. But incubation periods for the rabies virus can vary wildly -- from a few days to six years. As the virus travels to the brain via the nerves, incubation can take longer depending upon the distance between the bite and the brain. If the bite occurs around the neck, for example, the incubation period can be very short. In the case of the Bangladeshi victim, he suffered a bite on his ankle, which explains the substantial period between the time of the bite and the onset of symptoms," the representative explained.
Significantly, the death was the ninth fatal case of rabies recorded in the Sultanate since August 1990 when the first domestic human case of rabies was diagnosed. Epidemiological investigations launched by authorities in the wake of a fox bite incurred by a schoolboy established the presence of sylvatic rabies in Oman at the time.
Since then, eight cases of rabies fatalities -- involving individuals bitten by rabid animals -- have been recorded. With the exception of an expatriate who was exposed to the virus abroad but developed the systems locally, all of the victims were Omanis.
Prior to the latest fatality, the last case known case was reported in 2003. The low incidence of the disease in Oman is attributed to the combination of animal bite surveillance, universal post-exposure prophylaxis and the low rate of dog rabies in Oman.
Under an anti-rabies vaccination policy implemented by the Ministry of Health, citizens as well as expatriates are entitled to free rabies vaccination -- in both government and private healthcare institutions -- if doctors suspect potential exposure to rabies infection.
© Oman Daily Observer 2016
