Tsunami Survivors

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Post-Tsunami rabies outbreak alarm in India, Sri Lanka
 

     Washington: The threat of a rabies outbreak after the December 26 tsunami disaster has raised an alarm in the affected South Asian countries including India. A dog vaccination programme has already been initiated in Sri Lanka. Although there are no immediate signs of rabies in India and Thailand, an infected dog has been identified in Sri Lanka. Asia Pacific director of The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Mick McIntyre, who has recently returned from Thailand after assessing the wildlife situation there, said that they are helping to vaccinate around 2000 dogs along a 42 kilometre stretch of the Sri Lankan coast south of Galle. "In Sri Lanka they have found an animal with rabies so it's a matter of getting to as many of the other dogs as possible to vaccinate them. It's all clear in India and Thailand so far but we're monitoring the situation," ABC Online quoted McIntyre as saying. According to animal experts, though many wild animals survived the tsunami, as they "sensed" the danger and made for high ground, domestic animals and livestock didn't do as well and are now at risk of contracting infections, which could spread to already devastated human population.    

     Animal welfare organisations fear that since the tsunami many dogs have been ownerless and they are now breeding with the already large population of stray street dogs. This means an increased threat of rabies spreading among the dogs and infecting people. McIntyre has warned that cats and other species of exotic animals kept as pets, such as monkeys, were in a similar position and some of these animals could potentially act as reservoirs for more sinister human-to-animal diseases like SARS.
- Feb 2, 2005

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