UK vacationers at in style vacation spot warned over situation that is ‘nearly all the time deadly’

The medical website suggests multiple vaccinations and health precautions travellers should take when visiting the country – but there’s one specific jab it urges groups to get to avoid a fatal disease

A health site linked to the UK Foreign Office has warned travellers about a deadly disease posing risk to travellers going to a popular holiday destination.

Travel Health Pro lists a number of suggested vaccinations and health precautions for tourists, but also suggests a course of Rabies jabs. The website can be found linked to the Foreign Office’s ‘Health’ foreign travel advice page.

The disease is mostly found in dogs, cats, livestock and some wildlife, and is spread via an infected animal’s saliva. But one animal in Greece comes with a special warning – bats. Individuals can catch rabies off bats via their saliva, usually via a bite or open wound.

Although the site says bat rabies is “rare”, “lyssavirus” can cause “disease in humans that is indistinguishable from rabies.”

It has deemed the risk as low for most travellers, but if someone does happen to be bitten by a bat, the “condition is almost always fatal”.

Victims usually come into contact with the bats if they are bat handlers or vets, but anyone interested in going caving should watch out.

No documented cases have been reported but the site does say bats found in Greece can carry the disease.

The popular holiday spot is home to 35 species of bats and an estimated 6,000 caves, with many unexplored on Crete.

The health experts advise: “Travellers should avoid contact with bats. Bites from bats are frequently unrecognised. Rabies-like disease caused by bat lyssaviruses is preventable with prompt post-exposure rabies management.

“Following a possible exposure, wounds should be thoroughly cleansed and an urgent local medical assessment sought, even if the wound appears trivial. Although rabies has not been reported in other animals in this country, it is sensible to seek prompt medical advice if bitten or scratched. It is possible, although very rare for bats to pass rabies like viruses to other animals including pets.”

They recommend that “post-exposure treatment and advice should be in accordance with national guidelines.”

Guidance suggests travellers who have a heightened risk of bat rabies, for example if they work in a lab with bats or take part in any other activities that could expose them to the animals, to take a “full course of pre-exposure vaccines” which “simplifies and shortens the course of post-exposure treatment and removes the need for rabies immunoglobulin which is in short supply world-wide.”

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