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‘Everyone was paddling to get away’: seals with rabies alarm South Africa’s surfers

…

Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.

“I was out surfing the other day, when this seal popped up in the lineup [of surfers] to sun itself,” says Gregg Oelofse, who is in charge of coastal management for Cape Town council. “Usually, surfers would enjoy the interaction. But now everyone was paddling as fast as they could to get away.”

Last month, a single seal bit several surfers in a matter of minutes and another seal swam ashore with horrific facial injuries that could only have been inflicted by a seriously aggressive animal. These attacks convinced authorities to euthanise four animals and send their bodies to be tested for rabies.

Three of those four seals tested positive, and the number of cases has since risen to nine.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

But the evidence Oelofse has seen of reports is reassuring. “We think quite a few people have been bitten by rabid seals, but luckily no human has got infected yet,” he says. “We don’t know why. Perhaps the transfer rate is low? Does salt water in their mouth reduce the viral load?”

This is how it begins.

MelastSB ,

Yesterday there was a post about someone biting a flight attendant and I had the same thought

noughtnaut ,
@noughtnaut@lemmy.world avatar

That must be a first. At least, I’ve never before heard of a seal on an airplane…

Leate_Wonceslace ,
@Leate_Wonceslace@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Wouldn’t put it past them; they’re clever. Might’ve figured out how to forge a plane ticket by now, you never know.

MelastSB ,

What about navy seals? Their bite is nasty

billiam0202 ,

Has this person not had experience treating rabies?

Rabies has a relatively long time from exposure to become symptomatic, because the virus travels through your nervous system to infect your brain. It can be weeks or months from the time you’re exposed until you show symptoms, but once you do it’s nearly guaranteed to be fatal. That’s why standard procedure (in the US at least) is to give the vaccine after exposure, because your body usually has enough time to create antibodies before the virus progresses to the brain.

ChocoboRocket ,

They do mention the incubation period for Rabies in the article can be up to two years, and they also mention it being found in seals starting in 2021.

You are correct that anyone bit recently may not be able to 100% confirm no transmission, but if no one bitten since 2021 has had Rabies from seal bites its still an accurate assessment.

Especially if people are bitten in (salt) water. Rabies spreads via saliva which is likely going to have a significantly smaller viral load if the bites happen in ocean water (also mentioned as a possible reason for low/no infection)

billiam0202 ,

I missed that part, thanks. I saw they had said four seals had attacked people in the past month and three of them were rabies positive, but that may not be enough time for a person to show symptoms.

No_Eponym ,
@No_Eponym@lemmy.ca avatar

“Actually, we’ve decided rabies is not actually that deadly. Almost no one shows symptoms after a bite. It’s probably only bad for those with comorbidities. Think of the damage to the economy if we panic!” /S

Aurenkin ,

Doesn’t rabies make you hate water? Kinda rough for a marine mammal.

FlyingSquid ,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

That just makes them extra mad.

bobs_monkey ,

I think that’s just drinking it for thirst. I’d wager that if your natural habitat is the ocean, it likely isn’t an issue.

iturnedintoanewt ,
@iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee avatar

You are actually super thirsty, but you can’t swallow because your throat closes when you try to drink.

Viking_Hippie , (edited )

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8153b7f6-e15c-4ac9-b889-67c1ab14ae12.jpeg

LaunchesKayaks ,
@LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world avatar

I got jumped by 3 raccoons last summer and had to go through all the rabies shots because scratches are treated like bites. That shit sucked. Now the raccoons and I have an accord. I leave them a duck egg every night and they leave my shit alone.

autotldr Bot ,

This is the best summary I could come up with:

It’s happened to me dozens of times: I’m riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me.

Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.

“I was out surfing the other day, when this seal popped up in the lineup [of surfers] to sun itself,” says Gregg Oelofse, who is in charge of coastal management for Cape Town council.

On Cape Town’s shoreline, swimmers and surfers like me are being given a clear message: anyone bitten by a seal, no matter how long ago, must seek medical attention immediately.

“They can spend days to weeks at sea, covering vast distances, and only hauling out on to islands occasionally to rest or to mate.”

“We really want to know the transfer rate [of the disease],” he says, expressing concern that rabies might become endemic in the seal population or jump to other coastal mammals such as Cape clawless otters.

The original article contains 887 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 79%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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