Stay away from wild and stray animals: rabies is spreading rapidly in Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
In Ukraine, a fox attacked a woman walking with her two children, indicating an increase in rabies cases among wild animals due to the hunting ban during the war.
Alarming information is coming from the regions of Ukraine - cases of deaths of pets and bites of people by predatory animals with rabies, mostly foxes, are increasing. One of these cases was reported by Mykola Lukashuk, the head of the Dnipropetrovs'k Regional Council, according to UNN.
There, a fox attacked a woman with two children.
"The news that a wild fox attacked a woman walking with her two children right on one of the streets of her village in Nikopol district has been widely circulated online. According to the latest data, the number of red foxes in the region has increased by 2.5 times. These are animals that carry rabies," Lukashuk said.
According to him, the number of rabies cases among animals last year also increased significantly compared to 2022. According to the Dnipropetrovs'k Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 14 cases were recorded in 2022, 77 in 2023, and 20 cases have already been recorded at the beginning of this year.
"This situation is due to the ban on shooting game animals during martial law in the country. Experts recommend that if you come across a wild animal, do not approach it under any circumstances. Do not stop abruptly. Keep moving at the same pace, but change your trajectory and try to go around the animal on a different road. Show what you have in your hands. A bag or umbrella, anything. If you see a wild animal within the settlement, report it to the police," said the head of the Dnipro Regional Council.
If you cannot avoid an attack, you should immediately seek medical help. By the way, the head of the Odesa regional administration also issued an order on urgent measures to prevent the spread of rabies. According to the latest data, 23 infected foxes and 13 jackals have already been found in the Odesa region.
For reference
Rabies is an acute infectious disease of animals and humans. It is characterized by the development of a kind of encephalitis with rapid damage to the central nervous system. In case of delay in providing qualified medical care, death is inevitable.
A person can get rabies from an infected animal through:
- bite;
- scratches and microdamages to the skin;
- contact of infected saliva with mucous membranes.
Cats and dogs among domesticated animals most often infect people through contact, and foxes and wolves in the wild. Stray animals, in particular dogs, pose a particular risk, as they bite as an instinctive response to protect their territory, pack members, or to obtain food. The possibility of aerosol-contact infection has been proven (in the laboratory, during visits to caves inhabited by bats), when the virus passively enters through minor damage to the conjunctiva and oropharyngeal mucosa. If you have been bitten or licked by a stray or wild animal, seek medical attention immediately. Delay can cost you your life.
