Do hamsters get rabies and what danger does it pose?

Do hamsters get rabies?

For some reason, many are sure that hamsters and rabies are incompatible concepts. Unfortunately, the reality is not so rosy.

Unfortunately, hamsters get rabies. And how! These animals are often carriers of a deadly, incurable disease. In 2011, a family of 4 people in the Ukrainian Zhitomir, in particular, ended up in the hospital. Everyone was bitten by a “harmless” domestic hamster. Fortunately, in that story everything ended well: the head of the family was alarmed by the sudden aggression of a previously phlegmatic pet, and he immediately went to the hospital. And saved four lives.

Remember! That rabies in hamsters is not science fiction. The probability may be small, but it could happen.

Are hamsters carriers of rabies?

In epizootology, a “carrier” refers, rather, to an animal suffering from a chronic form of the disease and having no visible signs of infection. Chronic rabies does occur, but these are unique cases.

Important! Without going into terminology, hamsters (like almost any warm-blooded animal) can carry rabies. They are one of the natural reservoirs of many infectious diseases, including rabies.

Digging a little from the topic: if a person is attacked by a mouse (or rat) and bitten, he should urgently go to the hospital!

Statistics

The virus is more common among wolves, foxes and other wild animals. In domestic animals, it manifests itself in dogs and cats. Rare cases of the disease occur in rodents, namely squirrels, rats and hamsters. There are certain areas where rabies is widespread, which can be found out at the nearest veterinary clinic.

The virus is widespread in America and Canada, where raccoons, foxes, and skunks are carriers. Bats are also susceptible to rabies in Africa, Asia, and Europe.

There are two types of rabies: urban and natural habitats. The above animals are natural. In the city, the virus is common in cats, dogs, and farm animals.

It's safe to say that a rabid hamster is a rare occurrence. There have been cases where hamsters have bitten owners, infecting them. But these are isolated precedents.

In 2003, there was an incident in Russia in the city of Novosibirsk. A pet store bought a hamster for a boy in the middle of summer. Two months later, he bit his 8-year-old owner and died. The examination diagnosed rabies.

Three years later, an infection was discovered, but in Belarus. A hamster bit a 12-year-old girl. Then he died 2 days later. The laboratory confirmed the diagnosis of rabies. The girl was saved after undergoing a course of vaccinations.

It happened that, having bought three hamsters, they all bit the young owners. This happened in Ukraine in 2012. They died a week after the purchase. The children were admitted to the hospital to undergo a vaccination course.

The last time rabies in hamsters was noticed was a year ago, in 2021. Again, Belarus and a hamster dies after infecting a 19-year-old girl. The diagnosis was confirmed.

The cases are isolated, but they will serve as a pretext to begin developing a vaccine against rabies in rodents. Now there is no cure, but for prevention they give vaccines to cats, dogs and ferrets.

Vaccines and vaccinations against rabies in hamsters - myths and truth

Vaccines and vaccinations against rabies in hamsters - myths and truth about this are so closely intertwined that understanding this issue can be very difficult. Here, for example, is the very fact of vaccination. Are hamsters vaccinated at all?

Vaccination is possible... but in practice it is used extremely rarely. In fact, hamsters are only vaccinated during the creation and testing of new types of biological products. In some cases, vaccines (for example, against rhinopneumonia) were created thanks to the “labor” of home workers alone. In order to prevent the disease in rodents themselves, vaccinations are used in vanishingly rare cases.

What preventive measures are there if you are bitten by an animal?

All kinds of recommendations for the prevention and treatment of rabies - the destruction of enraged animals, cauterization of bitten areas in people with a hot iron - did not produce any effect. Almost every person bitten by a rabid animal was doomed to death. Until the 80s of the 19th century, people did not have a reliable means of protection against this terrible disease.

The great French scientist Louis Pasteur has the honor of creating a vaccine against rabies, which was successfully used for the first time on July 6, 1885. Then, thanks to vaccination, a boy bitten by a rabid dog was saved. And some time later, in a French village, children playing were attacked by a rabid dog. Defending them, fifteen-year-old shepherd Jean Jupille accomplished a real feat. He managed to tie the dog's face with a belt whip and kill it with his wooden shoe. But the boy's entire body was covered with wounds. Barely alive, Jean was brought to Paris. Pasteur saved the hero.

To this day, vaccinations remain the only reliable means of protecting people after being bitten by an animal sick or suspected of having rabies. These include the administration of a vaccine and, if necessary, immunoglobulin.

What you need to know about preventive vaccinations:

• if the doctor has prescribed vaccinations, they should be started immediately;
• Under no circumstances should you skip the next vaccination;
• the course of vaccinations prescribed by the doctor must be completed in full;
• a person who is vaccinated is not dangerous to anyone;
• During vaccinations, you should not drink alcoholic beverages for 6 months after their completion; you should avoid overwork, hypothermia, and overheating.

Along with vaccinations, on the recommendation of Belarusian scientists, antibiotic prophylaxis is also carried out.

Routes of transmission

Rabies has at least one good feature: it cannot be contracted through air, water or food (more precisely, it is possible, but in very specific cases). Simply put, the routes of transmission are very limited. In fact, the hamster itself can only get sick if it is bitten by a sick relative or a mouse infected with rabies.

As for people, everything is the same here. Infection can only occur through a bite and only if the rodent's teeth have pierced the skin until it bleeds. In this case, the animal’s saliva with the virus contained in it will most likely enter the human body.

Interesting fact! Airborne infection has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions, using hamsters as test subjects. The virus was introduced into a sealed aquarium in the form of an aerosol. And even in this case, the hamsters got sick after a long exposure.

Veterinary practice

Experts note that in veterinary practice there have been no recorded cases of human infection from the bite of a domestic hamster. But there are facts of rabies among domestic rodents. The need to observe hygienic and preventive protective measures to avoid rabies infection is also emphasized:

• keep the hamster in a cage or terrarium;
• Let your pet out for a walk only in a special ball.
• make sure that the hamster is truly isolated from the penetration of relatives or other animals.
• vaccinations and routine examinations are not given to small rodents, so you need to be attentive and care for your pet yourself - inspect the condition of the animal’s fur, eyes, teeth and claws daily.

For novice owners, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the physiological characteristics and anatomy of your pet. If you notice any changes from the usual generally accepted norms, do not be lazy to show the animal to a specialist as soon as possible.

In rodents, diseases develop rapidly and delay is dangerous.

If your hamster dies under unknown circumstances, then it is necessary to undergo a pathological examination to clarify the cause of the animal’s death. They are made in many veterinary clinics that have their own laboratory.

Symptoms and first signs of rabies in a hamster

Let's look at the symptoms and first signs of rabies in a hamster. Since rodents often exhibit the typical (violent) form of rabies, the disease is easy to guess by the changed behavior of the pet:

• The hamster becomes overly “bold” and completely loses the feeling of fear; he may even bang on the glass of the aquarium/cage bars.
• If there are several pets in a cage, fights begin, and traces of deep bites are clearly visible on the skin of the hamsters.
• Animals may produce white, flaky saliva from their mouths.
• Starting from about the third day of symptoms, there is a refusal of water and active eating of inedible objects. In particular, a sick pet can recklessly eat half of the entire bedding and... die from intestinal perforation.
• The terminal stage of any type of rabies is paralysis followed by death due to asphyxia and brain damage.

Incubation period for rabies in hamsters

The standard incubation period for rabies is believed to be about 10 days to two weeks. But the incubation period for rabies in hamsters is often much shorter.

These animals do not belong to the category of “large” and “especially large”, and therefore the length of their nerve cords is modest. Accordingly, the neutrotropic rhabdovirus (the causative agent of rabies) passes through them in just a few hours. Therefore, the first signs of infection may appear within 2 or 3 hours from the moment of the bite of an infected animal.

Tests and diagnosis of rabies in hamsters

At the slightest suspicion of this disease, tests and diagnosis of rabies in hamsters are performed exclusively in a post-mortem format! We remind you once again that this disease is incurable once symptoms appear, and therefore lifetime diagnosis is a stupid and unjustified risk.

Therefore, if a pet is suspected of rabies, it is euthanized. After this, in an equipped clinic, an autopsy is performed and the hamster brain is removed. Organ tissues are stained and examined under a microscope. If Babes-Negri bodies are detected, the diagnosis can be considered confirmed.

In addition, when diagnosing rabies, the PCR technique is widely used, sometimes serology by ELISA; in the most doubtful cases, specialists resort to infection of cell cultures.

Lethal outcome and what to do with your pet

We remind you once again: rabies is an incurable disease, ending in death in 100% of cases. Therefore, a sick hamster will definitely die.

And you can’t throw away/bury the corpse with honors in the garden! If the owner has any suspicions about the cause of death of the hamster, the following rules must be followed:

• A dead animal should never be handled with bare hands.
• If the pet is still alive, there is no need to try to help it. It is still impossible to cure rabies, but getting sick from a single bite is more than possible.
• You should report your suspicions to your veterinarian. The corpse must be collected by a specialist for further examination!
• If it is not possible to call a veterinarian, the deceased hamster should be burned. Under no circumstances should it be buried or thrown away, as this contributes to the spread of the pathogen in the external environment.

Finally, we need to talk about preventing infection of both hamsters and people themselves. In order not to put your pet’s life and your own at mortal risk, you should strictly follow the following rules:

• You should never buy pets at junkyards or spontaneous pet markets. In this case, no one will say what kind of animals they are and where they come from, how they were kept and whether they were in contact with wild rodents.
• In private homes, deratization should be carried out regularly (but, of course, so as not to poison the hamster).
• Cats and dogs living in the same household as small pets must be promptly vaccinated against rabies.
• It is better not to let hamsters run around the house unattended again. This is a question of hygiene, the safety of the animal itself (it can be poisoned), and the prevention of infection with many diseases. In addition, a “caged” hamster will most likely not “catch” parasites.

How does the disease manifest itself?

Rabies is characterized by a rapid course, since the virus quickly progresses and affects the nervous system of the animal.

Did you know? Djungarian hamsters are able to hibernate in cold rooms. This condition is sometimes mistaken for paralysis, but it is natural for this species of rodent.

Already two weeks after infection, the hamster will begin to show the first signs:

• aggression;
• constant secretion of saliva (wet muzzle);
• bad coat appearance;
• paralysis;
• trembling of limbs;
• lack of appetite;
• reluctance to drink water, fear of water.

The pet's death occurs within a week: cardiac arrest or failure of the respiratory system occurs. You can find out the cause of death of the animal from your veterinarian. If the infection is still present and the infection actually took place, this will be shown by an autopsy of the animal and the presence of specific components in the blood and tissues of the hamster.

Important! The sooner help is provided to a bitten adult or child, the higher the likelihood of minimizing negative consequences. You can find out where vaccines are available in your region by calling the emergency number.