Although Mexico has managed to eradicate rabies transmitted by dogs, the contagion by wild animals has returned this year with one case reported in Jalisco and the suspicion of three others in Oaxaca.
Since 2006, there are no recorded cases of rabies in humans transmitted by dogs, but health authorities have documented at least 21 deaths after bites or contact with wild animals.
According to the National Center for Preventive Programs and Disease Control (Cenaprece), rabies infections in Mexico have occurred in highly marginalized rural places without access to health services, such as in the Tarahumara region of Chihuahua; the mountainous area of Guerrero; the Huichol region in Jalisco and Nayarit; as well as by contact with sick cattle in Jalisco.
Even the death of migrants from Oaxaca and Michoacán, who traveled already in the incubation period and died in the United States, has been documented.
Between 2000 and 2018, Mexico detected 50 cases of rabies in humans, of which 41 were contagious by wild animals, according to Cenaprece data, however, there is only the technical record of 21 deaths.
Bat bites cause 80% of wild rabies deaths
Of the 21 deaths from wild rabies documented by authorities, in 15 of them there were cases of bites of hematophagous bat, which inhabits tropical and subtropical areas of the country.
Bites were detected in forested and tropical areas of six states between 2006 and 2022: 5 in Michoacán (in the municipalities of Arteaga, Susupuato, Huetamo and San Lucas); 3 in Nayarit (Ruiz, El Nayar and Huajicori); 3 in Guerrero (in Coahuayutla, Ometepec and Tlacoapa); 2 in Jalisco (Chapala and San Sebastián del Oeste); as well as one in Cazones, Veracruz and Soto La Marina, Tamaulipas.
Meanwhile, in regions of the mountains in Chihuahua they detected three cases of skunk bite in Urique, Batopilas and Nonoava between 2009 and 2011.
In 2008, two children aged 8 and 10 died after contracting rabies from a vampire bite in the community of Las Paloma, municipality of La Yesca, in Nayarit, only one of them received medical attention.
A year earlier, in 2007, two more people died after being bitten by foxes in Chiconquiaco, Veracruz, and San Vicente Coatlán, Oaxaca.
In 2009, a rancher died of rabies after handling one of his animals with symptoms of wild rabies in Hostotipaquillo, Jalisco.
According to health authorities, once clinical symptoms of rabies appear, it is fatal in all cases, so medical care guidelines have been issued for those who suffer aggressions from animals that can carry the virus.
@HLGatell reported that two of the three children with suspected rabies are hospitalized in Oaxaca and in critical condition after being bitten by a bat. The undersecretary said that today they will be able to confirm if it is rabies, but that they are already receiving treatment. pic.twitter.com/lLv8ZGDHR4
— Political Animal (@Pajaropolitico) December 27, 2022
On December 25, authorities in Oaxaca reported three possible cases of wild rabies in children, of which two have a critical health condition after the bite of a bat in the town of Palo de Lima in the municipality of San Lorenzo Texmelúcan.
Although samples were taken for clinical studies at the Institute of Diagnosis and Epidemiological Reference (InDRE), until Tuesday the results are unknown.
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