Rabies Guide 2010.pdf - the South African Veterinary Council

RABIES LEGISLATION
Human rabies and the law
There are a number of important legal considerations
relating to the diagnosis, management and reporting
of rabies in humans in South Africa.
Negligence
When deciding whether a doctor has been negligent
the court assesses whether the doctor concerned
acted as a “reasonable medical practitioner would
have done under the same circumstances”. 150 Four
questions are usually considered; if the first two are
satisfied then the accused person is said to have owed
the injured person a “duty of care”. Whether this has
been breached is determined by answering the next
questions.
The questions are:
• Would a reasonable medical practitioner in the
same position have foreseen harm?
• Would a reasonable medical practitioner have taken
steps to guard against occurrence of harm?
• What steps would a reasonable medical practitioner
have taken to prevent the harm?
• Did the accused take these steps?
The more serious the potential results and the greater
the likelihood that harm will occur, the greater the
possibility that the courts will impose a duty of care.
Therefore, with the existence of national guidelines
on the management of persons potentially exposed
to rabies in South Africa, breach of these guidelines,
for example failure to adequately treat the wound,
failure to notify a state veterinarian or police officer
about the existence of a potentially rabid animal,
failure to complete the correct regimen of postexposure
prophylaxis, would most likely be considered
In terms of section 45 of the Health Act (Act No. 63
of 1977) rabies is a notifiable disease. It is therefore
required that the responsible local or provincial
authority and state veterinarian be informed of any
human rabies case, death or contact on the prescribed
form, GW17/5. Rabies is unique as it is the ONLY
notifiable disease where contact by a person with an
infected animal is also notifiable.
Postmortem
A suspected rabies death should be considered as
due to an unnatural cause. A definitive diagnosis
is of particular importance where an animal owner
may be liable for not ensuring that his/her dog or
cat was vaccinated according to legal requirements.
A postmortem should be requested and although
relatives should be counselled, consent to conduct the
postmortem is not necessary.
Animal rabies and the law
The Animal Diseases Act (Act No. 35 of 1984)
provides for the control of specific animal diseases
and for measures to promote animal health. 38 The
Minister of Agriculture may make regulations for
accomplishing the purposes of the Act and has
determined that rabies control measures should be
applied throughout the country. The decision was
based on the geographical distribution of animal
rabies cases diagnosed over a five year period from
1995 to 1999.
The Animal Disease Regulations identify rabies as
a controlled animal disease. Table 12 describes the
general rabies control measures applicable in South
Africa.
unreasonable care and therefore negligence. 151 The Health Act (Act No. 63 of 1977)
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