POV: Your Pet Has Suspected Rabies

Sources- CDC Alicia Pet Care Center 🐾 on TT When an animal is strongly suspected of having rabies, humane euthanasia is necessary because the virus poses an immediate, fatal threat to human public health and has no known cure once symptoms appear. Rabies causes severe brain damage and unpredictable, aggressive behavior, making an infected animal highly likely to bite and transmit the deadly virus to people or other animals. Because there are no antiviral treatments to cure rabies in animals, keeping a symptomatic animal alive causes unnecessary suffering while creating an extreme safety hazard for the community. Euthanasia also plays a vital role in protecting human lives by allowing public health authorities to perform definitive diagnostic testing. The only way to confirm a rabies infection is by examining brain tissue under a microscope. Fast, accurate post-mortem testing confirms whether anyone exposed to the animal requires immediate, life-saving preventive rabies vaccines, preventing a fatal outcome before their own symptoms can develop. #rabies #pets #infection