Dog tests positive for rabies in Gyeonggi

A dog on a farm in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, tested positive for rabies on Friday, prompting the government to issue an alert on the following day to prevent the potentially deadly disease from spreading in the area.

It is the first case discovered this year after four cases of rabies were reported last year.

Local quarantine officials have been ordered to inoculate all domestic animals near the farm and vaccinate the area.

According to the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the dog was found to have come in contact with a wild raccoon already infected with a rabies virus.

Rabies is a contagious zoonotic disease. The virus is often found in wild animals such as foxes, raccoons, bats and coyotes. Dogs are the most common animal to be infected with the rabies virus, which can also be passed on to humans.

Korea saw its first case of rabies in 1907, and ever since, several hundreds of cases were reported every year.

With the government’s comprehensive inoculation efforts, however, the number dropped to only one in 1984, and between 1985 and 1992, Korea reported no cases of rabies. In 1993, however, rabies was reported in the mountainous area of Gangwon.

By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr]