A rabies alert has been issued in the Seine-et-Marne department of Ile de France. Around nine dogs have been put to sleep and nearly 200 hundred people who may have been put at risk by contact with the infected animals have either been vaccinated or contacted to arrange vaccination. Of the people vaccinated 102 were children attending the primary school at Grandpuits-Bailly-Carrois. Local authorities are still trying to contact a further eight families who may be at risk.

Six of the dogs destroyed were all living in the same house which is occupied by a group of young people and had all been in contact with another dog which was destroyed on the 26th of February after the Pasteur Institute had carried out tests to confirm the disease. It is thought that the dog which was carrying a particularly virulent form of the disease had originally been smuggled in from Morocco.

A toll free hotline has been put in place for anyone who fears they may be at risk - Tel: 0800 13 00 00

Rabies is an infectious disease which can affect all mammals including humans, transmission of the disease occurs when there is direct contact to infectious saliva for example to scratches, broken skin or from the bite of an infected animal. Rabies has a relatively long incubation period which can last up to 3 months. It is vital to treat rabies before any signs of the disease become evident as once it develops it is untreatable and fatal.

In France rabies is known as la rage and is relatively rare, most confirmed cases are found in animals that have been imported often illegally from other countries particularly from Northern Africa.

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