First confirmed case of human rabies in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Rabies is an almost invariably fatal Lyssavirus-induced disease, that causes acute encephalitis in humans and other mammals. The viral reservoirs include both wild and domestic animals. The infection causes about 24000 to 60000 deaths worldwide per year (Giesen et al., 2015; Naghavi et al., 2015) with Africa and Asia having the majority of human deaths (95%) caused by rabies. Rabies is endemic in animals in Arabian peninsula. Some countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman are reporting increasing number of cases of wildlife rabies. Among these countries Saudi Arabia is largest, but published data regarding the rabies status in the country are scarce. We report a case of a 60 year old Saudi man who was admitted to cardiac ICU of a tertiary care hospital in Makkah, primarily with history of chest pain for cardiac evaluation, who was found to have signs suggestive hydrophobia. On history, it was found that he had an unprovoked scratch on his face by a dog in Morocco a month prior to admission and his saliva PCR test confirmed rabies virus.