I have just got of the phone with Dr Govinda. He is a specialist in travel medicine. He says its not necessary to give Frost a course of rabies shots if we are able to monitor the dog for rabies. The background to this conversation is that Ingrid found out that Dad's evil dogs have not had their rabies shots "for a while."
For those of you who don't know, rabies is a serious issue in Africa. Every year, the WHO estimates, 25 000 odd people die of rabies and 14 million doses of 'vaccine' are administered in cases of exposure.
The vaccination is tricky. You can't save a person once symptoms emerge BUT the animal that bites may not display symptoms for a while. So, do you do it prophylactically?
Dr Govinda said "There isn't a rabies outbreak at the moment but you should keep an eye on the dog and if it starts running around and biting people, if it gets sick, then you should bring him in."
"Well, that doesn't sound charming." I commented. Is that ok to wait?
He added "Well, my son just had the series of shots... in India... where he is studying... and it wasn't pleasant. There was a rabid dog, a stray, that ran around and bit 20 people. Its 5 shots over a week or so and two in the beginning. I don't think you need to if you can monitor the animal, if its not a stray it should get sick pretty quickly if its rabid."
Ingrid is taking the dogs to have their rabies shots this afternoon.
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