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WOAH representative shared his views on the problem of rabies

Budimir Plavsic, Head of the Regional Office of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) in Moscow, discussed with V&L his vision of rabies eradication.

WOAH representative shared his views on the problem of rabies
Budimir Plavsic and his pet Leo / Photo by Aleksandr Plonskii /V&L

“I learned about rabies when I was very young. I was in the third or fourth grade, when they showed us a movie, from which I learned about rabies, about people dying from rabies. It was a long time ago, but nevertheless it had a lasting impression on me as a kid. It was shocking, but we learned how serious it was.

We need to be careful. A vaccinated dog will not transfer the infection to other animals or humans and it will save them from dying.

All the cases in humans occurred due to the lack of vaccination.

Of course, humans should not be vaccinated regularly, when there is no risk. Only people working in some vulnerable sectors, like veterinarians, should be vaccinated.

Vaccination of dogs is a priority.

And I repeat again that it is something we need to do, and education and awareness are also important. We need to speak to people.

I know about the case of a girl who died, because she was bitten by a dog. Her parents didn’t know, and after several weeks she developed the symptoms, and it was too late to help her. This is extremely bad and it shouldn’t have happened. Therefore, education and sharing information is critically important. Somewhere people still don’t believe in vaccination, but probably we need to explain it to them using facts. And the facts are that rabies has been killing people for thousands of years. And now we have methods to eliminate it completely. The experience of some countries, including Serbia, my country, says that it is possible”.

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English version, 3 Oct 2022 13:35
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