Authorities up security measures after detecting rabies cases

RABIES has reappeared in Melilla with four dogs reported to have been infected in 30 days.
This has forced the Social Welfare and Health board in the autonomous city to up its spending and increase safety measures and precautions, board leader Maria Antonia Garbin said, adding that it was a worrying situation as no cases had been registered for almost a year.
Although in Europe and mainland Spain the disease is considered extinct, occasionally cases can slip across borders undetected, as with these dogs believed to have arrived from Morocco, where rabies is endemic.
The OIE-World Organisation for Animal Health calculates that 70,000 people are killed per year across the world by rabies.
In Melilla, due to its closeness to Morocco, extra care has to be taken with strays, Garbin explained, pointing out that rabies jabs are free there for pets, a measure which costs the city €70,000 per year.
The current circumstances have led to an undisclosed number of people also being given vaccinations against the illness after having had contact with the infected animals.
Meanwhile the health department has warned residents not to approach strays or any animals showing symptoms.

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