Jason瘋英文 :回首頁

Authorities overwhelmed by rabies testing (2013/07/26)

Rabies fears and reports of infected animals have overloaded Taiwan’s only laboratory capable of testing for the disease. It was left racing to test an influx of samples sent for analysis.

As of Friday morning, the Animal Health Research Institute has tested 28 dead animals for rabies. Four ferret-badgers from Nantou, Yunlin and Taitung counties were confirmed to be infected, and another nine carnivores were sent for testing from across Taiwan after biting people, leaving the institute’s director worried about how many more will come.

Tsai Hsiang-jung
Animal Health Research Institute
We plan to add six more workers to the labs, just in case, and to vaccinate them, just in case.

Some suspect that since only ferret-badgers have been confirmed infected, this may be a rabies virus variant that poses no threat to dogs, cats or human beings. But the Animal Health Research Institute was quick to reject such speculation.

Tsai Hsiang-jung
Animal Health Research Institute
Gene sequencing shows that this [virus] has an 80 to 90 percent similarity to rabies. Our tests for antigens, including immunochemical staining, came out positive, so our conclusion is that this is certainly rabies.

The quarantine bureau says that enough rabies vaccinations for up to 3,000 people are due to arrive from France on Aug. 2. Priority for the vaccinations will be given to veterinarians and others at the forefront of prevention efforts.