Dublin Rabies Scare Proves Unfounded

Just days after the tragic death of a Belfast woman who lost her extended fight with a rabies infection, four people have had to be given emergency vaccinations in a Dublin hospital.

The precaution following a rabies scare in the Irish Republic, where it has emerged they were bitten by an illegally imported kitten suspected of having rabies.

In the Dublin incident it is understood that a British Blue pedigree kitten went berserk, developed seizures, encephalitis and started drooling before inflicting significant bites on its owners, a vet and a nurse.

The incident, reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, happened after the kitten was illegally imported to Ireland from Poland over the Internet.

The four people were urgently referred to the chief medical officer at Cherry Orchard Hospital in Dublin where they received vaccination and immune response treatment for 21 days.

However, tests later proved that the animal was not infected.

The incident was revealed yesterday in the wake of the tragic death from rabies of Belfast woman Lisa McMurray.

She passed away on Tuesday night after spending weeks in intensive care at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Lisa, 30, had worked as a communications director with the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau, but left to work for the Cats Protection adoption centre in Dundonald.

It is believed that she may have contracted the rabies virus more than two years ago while volunteering at an animal sanctuary in South Africa.

Mark Rawden from Cats Protection paid tribute to Lisa and said: "She was a warm, engaging person who made a huge impact on the organisation and on her colleagues."

See: Rabies Victim Dies

(BMcC)