Woman 'critical' with rabies in North
A case of human rabies was confirmed in the North tonight.
The infected female patient is currently in a critical condition in hospital in Belfast.
The woman was taken ill after returning from overseas in an area associated with the disease and may have been bitten there.
The Eastern Health Board confirmed the positive test results.
It is understood the patient is from the greater Belfast area. She is being treated in intensive care in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
It is believed she was bitten by a dog while on a trip overseas.
A board spokesman said the risk to the wider public was minimal.
“The patient, who is being treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital, poses no risk to other patients or to visitors, and all its services are continuing as normal,” he said.
“All necessary steps on infection control are in place for the protection of staff.”
He added: “There is no documented case of human to human transmission of rabies anywhere in the world.
“This means that any risk to other people is negligible.”
Rabies is a notifiable disease in the North and there had been no notifications of rabies in humans there since 1938.
The board spokesman added: “While rabies remains a very rare illness in the UK, there are around 70,000 cases in humans in other parts of the world each year, and people should remain vigilant of the risk from both rabies and other serious vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly in many parts of Africa, Asia and South America.
“Health travel advice remains readily available to people through their GP and at local travel health clinics.”
He said the board and its partner agencies were satisfied all necessary steps to protect public health were in place.
