A seal on Muizenberg Beach. Picture Ian Landsberg
The City has warned the public to stay away from seals after a Cape fur seal off the coast at Big Bay tested positive for rabies last week.
The seal died last month, but the laboratory results only came in on Friday June 7.
Dogs, especially, need to be kept away from seals and any person or pets bitten by a seal should seek medical attention immediately.
Animal shelters and vets have been running rabies vaccination drives after a rabid dog from Capri was put down last month.
The infected dog, which had a fever and showed signs of increased aggression, was euthanised along with another injured dog from the same household as a precaution, although Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abraham confirmed this week that subsequent tests on the second dog had come back negative for rabies.
Noordhoek Veterinary Clinic vet Dr Karyn Levy said the source of the infection in Capri was not known, and none of the dogs in the household had a recent travel history outside the province.
She said the primary risk of rabies introduction came from the movement of infected dogs, which could spread the virus through contact with other dogs in public spaces or through fences.
Rabies, which is virtually 100% fatal once clinical symptoms appear, is transmitted through direct contact between animals, including licking, scratching, nipping, and biting. It can be transmitted to people through the lick, scratch, or bite of a rabid animal.
Dr Levy said it was critical for anyone bitten by an animal suspected of having rabies to clean the wound immediately with soap and water for 15 minutes then seek further medical attention for post-exposure prophylaxis. This usually includes a series of rabies vaccinations as well as rabies immunoglobulins (RIG), depending on the nature of the bite.
RIG was not available everywhere and a doctor would need to call the nearest public hospital to determine where vaccine and RIG stocks were available.
Ms Abraham said vaccination of pets was the most effective way of protecting humans and animals from exposure to the virus, and in South Africa it was compulsory, under the Animal Disease Act, to have dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies.
Signs of rabies in animals could vary and pet owners should be aware of changes in their pet’s behaviour, she said.
Signs to look out for include an aggressive or wild animal becoming tame or calm, a calm animal becoming aggressive, paralysis or partial paralysis, dogs barking strangely, animals attacking inanimate objects such as rocks or trees, foaming at the mouth, and a fear of water.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’s quarterly report from January to April this year, dogs are the primary source of human rabies infections. The report says three cases of human rabies were reported in South Africa from January 1 to April 30. These cases were in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Gauteng with the latter involving a patient who acquired the disease in Zimbabwe following exposure in December 2023. All the cases involved children aged 2, 5, and 7, respectively.
Rabies facts
• Rabies is highly preventable through vaccination.
• Rabies is a zoonotic disease, meaning humans can get the disease from animals.
• In South Africa, rabies is an endemic disease, and its common carriers include honey badgers, bat-eared foxes, jackals, meerkats and mongooses as well as feral and domestic cats and dogs.
• The virus is transmitted through contact in saliva from close contact with an infected animal such as bites, scratches or even licks on broken skin and mucous membranes which can transmit the virus.
• Rabies vaccination of domestic dogs and cats is mandatory by law in South Africa.