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By Safia Abdulrahman<\/p>\n
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Abuja<\/p>\n
A Veterinary Surgeon with the National Park Service (NPS), Dr Abdulrahman Muhammad, has cautioned Nigerians against ignoring dog bites, urging prompt medical treatment and regular vaccination of dogs to prevent rabies-related deaths.<\/p>\n
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Muhammad gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, describing rabies as a deadly but preventable viral disease transmitted through infected animals.<\/p>\n
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NAN reports that rabies is a fatal viral disease that attacks the central nervous system and is commonly transmitted through the saliva of infected mammals, particularly dogs, bats and cats.<\/p>\n
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He said delayed medical intervention remained a major cause of avoidable fatalities, noting that many dog bite victims resorted to traditional remedies instead of seeking prompt treatment at health facilities.<\/p>\n
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According to him, such practices increase the risk of developing rabies, a disease that is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, in spite of being preventable through timely medical intervention.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but it is completely preventable if victims immediately wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water and seek post-exposure vaccination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Muhammad advised members of the public never to disregard dog bites, regardless of how minor they might appear, emphasising that early medical intervention could significantly improve survival chances.<\/p>\n
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He identified dogs as the principal source of rabies transmission to humans in Nigeria, although cats, bats and other infected mammals could also spread the virus.<\/p>\n
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The veterinary surgeon urged dog owners to vaccinate their pets annually and ensure they were properly restrained to reduce the risk of transmitting the disease.<\/p>\n
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According to him, mass dog vaccination remains the most effective strategy for eliminating human rabies and reducing the burden of the disease across affected communities nationwide.<\/p>\n
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\u201cVaccinating dogs remains the most effective way to prevent human rabies. Responsible pet ownership is essential to eliminating the disease,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), rabies continues to claim an estimated 10,000 human lives annually in Nigeria, underscoring the need for stronger prevention efforts.<\/p>\n
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WHO reported that Cross River State\u2019s Department of Veterinary Services partnered with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) to strengthen surveillance and address longstanding challenges in rabies detection.<\/p>\n
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The organisation added that stakeholders from human health, animal health, environment and wildlife sectors developed a National Rabies Rapid Response Toolkit to support coordinated prevention and response efforts.<\/p>\n
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The toolkit provides a One Health framework for rabies prevention and response, supporting national efforts aimed at eliminating dog-mediated human rabies and achieving the 2030 global target.(www.primerisenews.ng)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Veterinary Surgeon with the National Park Service (NPS), Dr Abdulrahman Muhammad, has cautioned Nigerians against ignoring dog bites, urging prompt medical treatment and regular vaccination of dogs to prevent rabies-related deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33],"tags":[197,196,195],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","tag-dog-bites","tag-surgeon","tag-veterinary"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/images.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/primerisenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}