Warm-blooded animals such as buffaloes and cows can get rabies. If I eat undercooked beef, will I get sick? (Van Toan, 30 years old, Ha Giang)
The rabies virus is transmitted mainly from the saliva of rabid animals to humans through bites or scratches on the human body. Rabies can also be transmitted to humans when a rabid animal licks a wound or comes into contact with broken skin, or the lining of a person’s mouth or nose.
Most cases of rabies in humans are caused by dog bites, however there are also many cases of rabies caused by bites and scratches of cats, civets, jackals, foxes, bats, wolves and other predators. other. Warm-blooded mammals such as horses, buffaloes, cows… can also be reservoirs of rabies virus, but are less dangerous because they do not tend to bite or attack people. Sometimes the disease can be confused with many other diseases in cattle such as foot-and-mouth disease, septicemia with congestion, making caregivers subjective.
Regarding your question, eating raw beef or buffalo infected with rabies still carries the risk of transmitting rabies to humans. Therefore, you should eat meat of guaranteed origin and cook it before eating because the rabies virus will die when fully cooked.
There is currently no specific treatment for rabies, but it is completely preventable. People who raise dogs, cats, buffaloes, cows, horses… need to be fully vaccinated against rabies and re-vaccinated annually as recommended by the veterinary industry; If you own a dog, you must keep it chained and locked, and when going out, you must wear a muzzle.
In addition, people who often come into contact with animals at risk of rabies can proactively get vaccinated against rabies before being bitten or scratched to prevent disease. The pre-exposure vaccination schedule includes three shots, after each bite and scratch, only two shots are needed, instead of up to 5 shots and anti-rabies serum.
Currently, Vietnam is circulating two types of vaccines: Verorab (France) and Abhayrab (India). These are refined, new generation vaccines that do not contain nerve cells. From there, the injection is safer, does not affect the health or memory of the injector.