Scientists in South Africa say they have identified an outbreak of rabies in seals that is believed to be the first time the virus has spread in sea mammals.
At least 24 Cape fur seals that were found dead or euthanized in various locations on South Africa’s west and south coast had rabies, state veterinarian Dr. Lesley van Helden said.
Rabies, which affects mammals and can be passed to people, is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Rabies spreads via saliva, usually through bites but also sometimes when animals lick and groom each other.
Unless I’m mistaken one of the symptoms for humans is fear of water. If that symptom also appears in animals, how does it work with marine animals?
Humans don’t necessarily become afraid of large bodies of water while infected with rabies.
Rabies takes away your ability to drink water and swallow, and attempting to drink feels like you’re choking. I think this leads some patients to have an aversion to water despite being dangerously thirsty. They try to drink the water best they can, but they just choke on it.
I imagine since they’re still mammals that it’s just a more painful, gruesome death.
I wonder if that was why they were found on the coast? Because after getting rabies they were afraid of the water and went back to dry land?
Granted, if they had died in the ocean perhaps we wouldn’t have found them at all - so selection bias could also be at play (if say 90% die in the ocean and 10% on the coast, but we can only see those that die on the coast).