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Can You Eat An Animal With Rabies
You all know that rabies is a dangerous disease. Many of you are thinking that we shouldn’t eat the meat of animals affected by rabies as rabies is a viral disease. You can eat the cooked meat of animals affected by rabies as it kills germs from them. But it may be unsafe, So, you should avoid eating an animal with rabies.
A feral or mixed-breed that bites an individual must be humanely killed, with the brain submitted to the Rabies Test. Depending on the circumstances, an animal may have to be humanely destroyed and the brain submitted for rabies testing. If the animal is not a dog, cat, or ferret, then the animal must be captured, humanely destroyed, and the brain sent to rabies testing.
If a dog, cat, or domestic ferret is healthy 10 days after the event, one may conclude that the rabies virus may not have been present in the animals saliva at the time of the event, and that a dog may not have exposed the individual to rabies. If an animal tests positive for rabies, and your pet has never been vaccinated, it is recommended to euthanize the pet. If a biting animal tests positive for rabies and the pet is not up-to-date on rabies vaccinations (i.e., has been vaccinated for rabies in the past, but is now past due for booster shots), he or she should be evaluated on the basis of the severity of exposure, the time since the last vaccination, number of prior vaccinations, current medical condition, and local rabies epidemiologic factors to determine whether to be euthanized or immediately revaccinated and monitored in quarantine.
If the animal is healthy 10 days later, rabies exposure did not occur, and rabies vaccination is unnecessary for the individual who was bitten. If no symptoms developed in the animal at the 10th day following the exposure, then the animal was not shed the rabies virus during the time of the exposure. Biting an animal in its incubation period does not pose the rabies risk since the virus is not present in the saliva. The dog may still have possibly been rabies incubating, but that may not have been the time when rabies virus was transmitted from animal saliva.
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After the animal has been exposed to rabies, and rabies virus has been transferred to the salivary glands, the animal might be able to excrete (or excrete) the rabies virus in saliva; this means the animal is infectious. The virus is excreted in the saliva, and is typically transmitted to humans and animals through bites from infected animals. People and mammals contract rabies when infectious saliva is introduced to the body, typically by bites from infected animals.
It is also possible, but fairly rare, for humans to get rabies if infectious material from an infected animal, like saliva, gets directly into their eyes, nose, mouth, or a cut. Less often, rabies may spread when the saliva of a rabid animal comes into contact with an open cut in a persons skin or with the eyes, nose, or mouth of an individual or animal. In rare cases, rabies may be spread when infectious saliva enters an open cut or mucous membrane, such as in the mouth or eyes. It is also possible, but rare, for humans to contract rabies through exposure that is not through biting, which may include scratches, abrasions, or open wounds exposed to saliva or other potentially infectious materials from a rabies-infected animal.
| Food that may contain rabies virus | How to eliminate rabies virus |
| Raw milk from a rabid cow or goat may contain this virus. | Heat kills the rabies virus. |
| Uncooked meat from a rabid animal has a higher risk of rabies virus. | Pasteurization is the best way to make the milk or meat safe from viruses. |
When an individual is bit by a sick animal, and scratches, abrasions, or open wounds are present; the transmission may occur. Rabies is not a prions disease, but it can affect a human being that comes into contact with saliva from the affected animal. Rabies is transmitted by saliva, tears, and neural tissue; Rabies is not transmitted through an animals blood, urine, or stool.
Other types of contact, such as petting a rabies-infected animal or touching rabies-infected animals blood, urine, or feces, are not associated with infection risks and are not considered rabies-related exposures. Bites and exposures to wildlife should be treated as if the animal were rabies until rabies has been eliminated. Any bites or scratches on animals from wild, predatory mammals, or from bats not available for testing, should be treated as though they were exposed to rabies. If you believe that your pet or PET has been bitten by a bat, immediately seek care from your veterinarian or health department, and get your bat tested for rabies.
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Even if you are vaccinated, you should still take precautions against coming in contact with rabies if you are traveling to an area that has rabies, and seek medical attention right away if you are bit or scratched. You may also prevent rabies by getting pre-exposure rabies vaccination (3 doses of the vaccine given over a 3-to-4-week period, given to the area around your lower arm) if you are working in a job that has a high exposure risk, such as an employee in a diagnostic lab that tests for rabies, a spelunker/caver, a veterinarian, veterinarian technologist, veterinarian assistant, veterinarian student, animal control worker, animal shelter worker, or in wildlife management. Although the majority of rabies cases are found in wildlife, the majority of people are given rabies vaccinations because they have been exposed to domestic animals.
Several individuals in the U.S. die from rabies every year, often because they did not realize that rabies is risky when it comes to wild animal bites, and did not seek medical treatment. Rabies is unavoidably deadly when left untreated; however, effective vaccines are available to protect people and pets. Eating rabies-infected meat or meat that has been slaughtered may potentially spread the disease; so, it is better to be safe than sorry. Biting dogs is generally not considered to be a risk for rabies, unless the animal is sick or acting unusually, and there is widespread rabies activity in your area.
Not only can keeping them be illegal, wild animals are potential rabies threats for the caregivers as well as others. Although it is still necessary to monitor animals that are vaccinated for rabies should they have a potential exposure to humans (due to a rare chance the vaccine is ineffective in this animal), caretakers are safer with monitoring an animal for rabies rather than testing if that animal has been previously vaccinated. Usually, one may want to wait to get the test results back from the healthy pet to determine whether or not the rabies shots are needed. If an animal cannot be found, talk with your doctor because you may have to begin rabies prevention treatments, which would include the rabies shot.
Rabies can be prevented by the vaccine, and those exposed to rabies may benefit from postexposure prophylaxis, but it must be administered as soon as possible after the exposure. Enforcement also minimizes the risk of other people or animals being exposed to confined animals, and helps to keep people from getting unnecessary rabies shots.
Can rabies virus survive in food?
Heating renders the rabies virus inert; therefore, consuming pasteurized milk or cooked meat (including dog meat) does not expose one to the disease. However, raw milk from a rabid cow or goat is an exposure.
Can you get rabies from eating the same food?
Yes. If a dog is not reported to be rabid, its major method of transmission is through saliva or other secretions, which increases the likelihood that other infections (bacterial or viral) may spread. Such food should be thrown away.
How do you tell if an animal has rabies?
A human or animal must undergo laboratory testing in order to determine whether they are infected with rabies; you cannot tell if an animal is infected just by looking at it. However, rabid animals could display unusual behavior. Some may slobber more than usual, be agitated, and try to attack you or other animals.