Rabies and Dog'Meat

Dog meat consumption is widely practiced in several countries like Korea, Vietnam, China and even Indonesia.  Some places in Indonesia  that still consume dog meat such as Manado, Yogyakarta, Solo and a small part of Bali. In Yogyakarta, for example dog meat is cooked as "sengsu" or tongseng asu (dog) while in Manado it is known as "RW" cuisine with a dominant spicy flavor, and some places in Bali are processed as "sate" cuisine. According to the Indonesian food composition table, in 100 gr  of  dog RW’ meat contains 198 Kcal of energy, 24.6 grams of protein, 10.5 grams of fat and 0.9 grams of carbohydrate. The protein content of dog meat is even higher when compared to beef.

People consume dog meat based on several reasons such as: dog meat is believed can to increase the male vitality, dog meat as an anti-inflammatory and body warmer, even though all these benefits do not have scientific evidence.

This recent coverage warmly discusses dog meat as a transmission source of Rabies. Theoretically, as a zoonotic disease which means the virus  can be transmitted through animals to humans. In animals, this disease is commonly found in dogs, cats and monkeys. Rabies is caused by Lyssa viruses. This virus is transmitted to humans through animals that have previously infected by this disease.

A person can get rabies if the saliva from the infected animal enters to his body through a bite, even though scratches, if the animal has previously licked his nails. In rare cases, a person is infected with rabies because a wound on his body is licked by an infected animal.

There is very little chance of transmission of the rabies virus from meat to humans. This phenomenon is because it is based on the nature of viruses that can only live and thrive on living cells. The virus becomes inactive when exposed to sunlight, ultraviolet light, 1 hour heating for 50 minutes, drying, and very sensitive to alkaline solvents such as soap, disinfectants, and 70% alcohol. In addition, dog meat before consumption such as RW meat, tongseng or satay has also been thoroughly cooked. The news as if the rabies virus is transmitted to people after contact with meat from a dog can occur when contact occurs in the early stages of the process of muscle to meat conversion. Transmission, for example, shortly after the dog dies, the patient's saliva on the wound or skin that is open from the butcher, or the butcher is bitten when cutting the dog. In this case, the butcher (dog slaughterer) is a person who is at risk of contracting rabies in relation to dog meat. Research results in 2007, there was a rabies outbreak in Ba Vi, Vietnam, as an important area for dog meat trade reported by the District Department of Animal Health (DAH) it was reported that 70% of deaths originated from dog bites but 30% were thought to be due to exposure at the time of slaughtering or cutting.

The high risk factor for contact with sufferers (dogs still alive) for contracting rabies is also evidenced by several other research results. Contact factors were found with dogs with rabies (P = 0,000; OR = 12,551; 95% CI = 5,541 <OR <28,430), as the largest component under vaccination status (P = 0,000; OR = 19,133; 95% CI = 8,015 <OR < 45,678) which contributes to the transmission of the rabies virus. Regardless of the pro and contra of these facts, consuming dog meat in principle is very safe if it has been cooked completely from the attack of the rabies virus, but it will be very risky for the butcher (the dog cutter) when preparing the meat before cooking. Efforts to eradicate rabies do not lie in the prohibition of people to consume dog meat, but the prohibition of cutting dogs as food is a critical point.