Rabies remains a serious public health concern in Nigeria, with veterinary experts warning that free-roaming dogs, poor vaccination, weak enforcement of responsible pet ownership and limited access to post-exposure treatment continue to put lives at risk.
The warnings were given by veterinary doctors, Oluwatobi Fasiku and Dr. Oladokun Haleem of Shaleekeen Pet Home and Health Centre, who spoke on the causes, prevention, treatment and surveillance of rabies in Nigeria.
Fasiku identified the bite of an infected dog, particularly free-roaming dogs, as the main route of rabies transmission in Nigeria.
He said, “The main route of rabies transmission in Nigeria is through the bite of an infected dog, especially free-roaming dogs. The gaps in human behaviour that worsen the problem include giving little priority to veterinary care, the absence of coordinated programmes to control the population of stray animals in our communities, and weak enforcement of policies that mandate responsible pet ownership, animal welfare, and vaccination.”
According to Fasiku, one of the biggest weaknesses in Nigeria's prevention chain is what happens after a person has been bitten by an animal that could be infected.
“I think the biggest failure is at the post-exposure prophylaxis stage, particularly in how quickly and affordably someone can receive urgent medical attention following a bite from a potentially rabid dog. Rabies vaccines are not adequately distributed across communities and may not be readily available at the location where a bite occurs.” He said.
Fasiku described rabies as an endemic disease in Nigeria and said the available figures may not represent the full extent of the problem.
He is, “Rabies is a serious problem in Nigeria, especially because it is an endemic disease, meaning that the disease persistently occurs in the country. In fact, NCDC estimates indicate that there are at least 10,000 human cases annually in Nigeria. However, this data does not accurately represent the full reality because it is based on reported cases ONLY.”
He added that many cases could go unreported, particularly in underserved rural communities where public awareness, medical and veterinary interventions are limited.
“Many unreported cases exist, especially in underserved rural communities where public awareness, medical, and veterinary interventions are lacking. In some of these communities, cases of rabies may also be ignorantly attributed to spiritual afflictions.”
Fasiku also identified unvaccinated and free-roaming dogs as a major challenge to controlling the disease, noting that the problem occurs in both rural and urban communities.
“This is a very significant problem, and most likely one of the biggest challenges to controlling the disease. It is not limited to rural areas alone; there are free-roaming dogs in both rural and urban communities.” He said.
He linked the situation to attitudes towards animal welfare, responsible pet ownership and the seriousness with which rabies is viewed.
He said, “This problem is largely related to human behaviour and perceptions towards animal welfare, responsible pet ownership, and the severity of rabies. In many developed countries, dogs are not allowed to roam freely without their owners and are generally kept on a leash when being walked outside.”
Dr. Haleem similarly linked the continued deaths from rabies to gaps in vaccination, particularly among local dogs and in rural communities.
“Yes, rabies is 100% preventable, yet people still die. And in my experience, this is because vaccinations are not done as well as they should be.” He said.
He explained that although many pet owners make efforts to vaccinate their animals, some dogs, especially those in rural areas or those left to roam, remain outside the vaccination system.
He said. “And a lot of times, when you hear of cases of people coming down with rabies, they were bitten by a stray dog on the roadside or on the street. They were walking by, and a dog just got up and attacked them or something… or students going to school.”
Haleem said a major concern is that some people may not fully understand the consequences of failing to vaccinate their animals.
“So, I have a feeling that a lot of the cases that are being reported are from strays or owned by people in rural areas who do not understand the gravity of not vaccinating their pets.” He said.
For people who have been bitten, both awareness and the speed of seeking medical attention are critical.
Fasiku said one of the common mistakes is failing to treat a dog bite as an emergency.
He said, “One of the wrong things people do is fail to treat a dog bite as an emergency because of a lack of awareness. A child, for example, may forget to report to their parent or guardian after being bitten by a dog. Adults may also, in some situations, treat a dog bite like an ordinary scratch or wound, assuming that the wound will heal and that they will be fine, and simply move on with their activities.”
He warned that this can have serious consequences.
He said, “This can be extremely dangerous because once clinical signs of rabies develop, the disease is almost fatal.”
Haleem said the first immediate action after a suspected animal bite should be to wash the wound.
“The most important and immediate step to take after being bitten by an animal is to wash the wound with soap under clean running water for about 15 minutes.” He said.
He explained why immediate wound washing is important and stressed the need to seek treatment at a human hospital.
“Now, I stated before that the virus affects the central nervous system. So after the bite and the inoculation of the virus via the saliva, the virus tries to find its way to the nerve endings and then can travel all the way up to the central nervous system. Washing the wound immediately is important because the virus is slow-acting, and you want to wash out the saliva and the virus itself.” He said.
Haleem also warned against taking a bite victim to a veterinary clinic for human treatment.
“And it is important that immediately after doing that, please go to a human hospital because I have seen a lot of situations where people actually bring a dog bite victim to the veterinary clinic asking for treatment because the person was bitten by a dog. No, the veterinary clinic is not where you will get treated. It is a human hospital that is the place where you can get treated.” He said.
The World Health Organisation says rabies is preventable and that eliminating human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 requires increased awareness, vaccination of dogs and access to life-saving post-exposure treatment. This is the basis of the global Zero by 30 target.
Fasiku, however, said access to post-exposure treatment remains a challenge for many Nigerians, particularly people living in rural areas.
“As I mentioned earlier, it is not generally accessible. Rabies vaccines require constant refrigeration and a reliable electricity supply for proper storage, and many rural environments lack these facilities. This means that vaccines are often centrally stocked in urban hospitals, which in many cases are beyond the immediate reach of vulnerable people.” He said.
He said local health facilities need to be better equipped to respond to dog bites.
“There is a need for our local health centres to be better equipped and prepared to provide emergency care and post-exposure prophylaxis to reduce fatalities.”
Haleem also highlighted challenges faced by veterinary teams attempting to carry out mass vaccination, including difficulty accessing some communities and handling stray animals.
“1. Accessibility to some areas is a problem
2. Sometimes you go to certain areas and of course, these strays either are not identified to any owner or you are not able to restrain some of these animals because their owners don't have a close relationship with them.”
He said some animals can be too difficult to handle safely without specialised equipment.
“So except in cases where one has advanced settings of using either a dart gun or a blow pipe where one can dart and anesthetise the pets to be able to vaccinate them. Sometimes, these animals are too wild to be handled without getting bitten yourself.”
Haleem also raised concerns about identifying vaccinated animals and keeping reliable vaccination records.
He proposed the use of microchipping as one way to improve record keeping.
“Microchip the animals that are being vaccinated so that subsequent times, we can easily scan for a microchip and any dog that has a microchip makes us aware that you probably got vaccinated because you would be able to keep records via the microchip of the dogs that got vaccinated.”
He added:
“If you scan a dog and it doesn’t have a microchip, you know that this dog was not vaccinated and so, you have to go ahead and then microchip the dog and vaccinate the dog.”
Fasiku said Nigeria also needs to rethink how it approaches the elimination of dog-mediated rabies by placing greater emphasis on controlling the disease at its source.
“Currently, Nigeria's strategic plans largely focus on human treatment. We need to shift our focus from post-dog-bite exposure and human treatment towards animal control and prevention.”
He said this should include deliberate action against free-roaming dogs, irresponsible pet ownership and delays in vaccinating dogs.
“This can be achieved through nationwide campaigns and public awareness, government-funded and mandatory dog vaccination programmes, as well as stronger enforcement of responsible pet care and ownership.” He said.
Haleem similarly called for greater awareness and vaccination of both owned and stray dogs as part of efforts to achieve the Zero by 30 target.
“Zero by 30 goal, I believe that what we need to do to be able to achieve this is that we need to work harder at:
Creating awareness
We need to go all out to catch and vaccinate strays and ensure that pet owners present their pets to the hospital for vaccination.”
He said controlling stray dogs is particularly important because of their potential role in transmission.
“Strays are a major problem when it comes to the spread of this disease. If they are not biting people around, they could be carriers transmitting the virus to other mammals around who then come and transfer the virus to humans.” He said.
Haleem said achieving Zero by 30 would require an “all-out approach” involving awareness, vaccination, identification and record keeping.
“It is an all-out approach that can actually get us to the point where we are at Zero by 30. Otherwise, I do not see any other means by which we can achieve Zero by 30.”
Rabies is preventable, but the interviews with Fasiku and Haleem show that prevention depends not only on treating people after exposure but also on vaccination, responsible pet ownership, control of free-roaming dogs, public awareness, surveillance and access to veterinary and human health services.
WHO likewise identifies dog vaccination, post-exposure treatment, surveillance and community education as key elements of the global strategy to eliminate human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030.
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