The Travel Doctor
Traveller's medical & vaccination centre
Health Alerts
Travel Doctor TMVC provides the latest health and travel alerts, including updates from the Department of Foreign Affairs.
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Rabies in Ghana
Thursday, 5 November, 2009
Six children have died in the past week and two are in a critical condition in the town of Bolgataga in Ghana's Upper East Region. (Bolgataga is at the southern terminus of the Trans-Sahara trade route and is known as the crafts centre of northern Ghana). A Senior Nursing Officer at the Bolgataga hospital is quoted as saying that even cases that were reported in a timely manner could not be treated because of lack of the anti-rabies vaccine in the hospital.
Information from Ghana indicates an increase in the number of cases of rabies recently probably because of an increase in the number of stray dogs. In Africa in general there are something like 24,000 deaths from rabies annually. While anti-rabies vaccine may be available in larger centres there is no guarantee that there will always be a sufficient supply and availability in rural areas is even more questionable. We advise that it would be wise for travellers who go off the beaten track to be vaccinated before travel.
