THE recent incident of dog meat consumption resulting in the death of a person through rabies infection in one of the municipalities in the Davao Region not only reopened information about exotic meat consumption but also brought zoonotic diseases to fore of the public's consciousness.
In a post from the New Corella Rural Health Unit Facebook page, it stated that the municipality recorded rabies due to dog meat consumption.
"Giawhag ang mga pasyente na naka checkup niaging October 24, 2024 na mag fill up sa Google Forms. Kini isip na contact tracing. Salamat sa pagtabang. Magbinantayon ta mga taga New Corella (We urge all individuals who had a check-up with us on October 24, 2024, to fill out the Google Forms provided for contact tracing. Thank you for your cooperation. Stay vigilant, New Corella residents)," the RHU's post read.
Although according to studies the majority of rabies transmission is through bites and scratches of rabid animals, several research has cited that rabies could also be transmitted indirectly through rabid animal meat consumption.
In a 2022 study by Tasiame, W, et. al entitled Rabies virus in slaughtered dogs for meat consumption in Ghana: A potential risk for rabies transmission, it demonstrated the presence of rabies virus RNA in apparently healthy dogs slaughtered for human consumption in Ghana and suggests a potential risk for rabies transmission.
Another study by Nguyen, K. Q. and Taylor-Robinson, A. in December, they found out that the practice of slaughtering dogs for human consumption poses a potential risk for rabies transmission. Therefore, when dogs are farmed for meat, the risk of rabies transmission to humans is increased.
Zoonotic diseases
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), zoonosis is any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from animals to humans
"Zoonotic pathogens may be bacterial, viral or parasitic, or may involve unconventional agents and can spread to humans through direct contact or food, water or the environment," WHO stated.
WHO added that zoonotic diseases have become a major global public health concern because a large percentage of newly identified diseases as well as existing ones come from animals, and humans are inherently close with animals, especially their pets or their assistance in livelihoods such as agriculture or even the natural environment.
"Some diseases, such as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), begin as a zoonosis but later mutate into human-only strains. Other zoonoses can cause recurring disease outbreaks, such as Ebola virus disease and salmonellosis. Still others, such as the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, have the potential to cause global pandemics,"
However, some zoonoses, such as rabies, are 100% preventable through vaccination and other methods, according to the same report.
Zoonosis through animal meat consumption?
When consuming animal meat, handlers or butchers always come into direct contact with animals infected with a disease or infection. This, in turn, makes them susceptible to getting infected with zoonotic disease, too. In New Corella's case, a rabies infection that caused the death of an individual was reportedly caused by dog meat consumption.
According to Dr. Julius Cloyd Jala, New Corella assistant municipal health officer, there were previous reports of rabies infection due to dog meat consumption in the municipality, long before the social media.
"Daghan na ingon ani na kaso sa rabies infection diri pud sa among munisipyo, kanang iro nga giihaw then gikaon. Galing lang wala kaayo na-hype or nahibal-an sa kadaghanan it's because wala pay social media ato nga time. Walay pa Facebook (There were a lot of rabies infections due to dog meat consumption here in our municipality. But these cases were not made known to the public because there was no social media yet during those times, no Facebook yet)," Dr. Jala said.
He said it was only with the municipality's recent case that the public was made aware of the possibility of rabies infection due to dog meat consumption. However, Dr. Jala admitted that although the dead person had been scratched by another dog a year prior to his consumption of dog meat, the municipality's health unit reported it to be rabies death due to dog meat consumption as it was his most recent exposure to a suspected rabid dog.
Relying on symptoms
According to the Department of Health-Davao Region, rabies cases in Davao are only reported as "suspected" cases because no established confirmatory facility exists in this part of the country.
"We only have clinical diagnosis based on rabies signs, symptoms, and history, since we don't have an RITM (Research Institute for Tropical Medicine) laboratory here, only for animals that we have, but wala para sa mga tao (not yet for humans)," Divene Hilario, DOH-Davao program manager, revealed.
Dr. Jala confirmed this, saying that, unlike Sars-Cov or COVID-19, whose symptoms are almost the same as those of other influenza and influenza-like viruses, Rabies has unique and clear signs and symptoms.
Hilario confided that they had to submit the specimen to Manila for confirmation, just like they did during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, since rabies has a 100 percent mortality rate, victims of suspected rabies cases usually succumbed to the disease even before specimens had been collected. The victims' families were usually not interested in pursuing confirming the test anymore.
Dr. Jala also reiterated this with the case in their municipality. He said the victim's symptoms were identifiable as rabies, although they had not confirmed it.
The victim, whose name was not revealed, was among the 25 rabies cases in Davao Region.
Based on the agency's data, there had been 25 rabies cases in the region from January to October 2025, a little more than the 22 cases in 2023. CEA
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