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A man dies of rabies in Perpignan: patient profile, origin of the contamination... what we know about this extremely rare case in France
Miscellaneous facts , Health , France - World
Published on01/10/2025 at 07:39
PS with AFP
The essentials A thirty-year-old man returning from Morocco died Thursday, September 25, at a Perpignan hospital after contracting rabies. This extremely rare case in France has raised questions about the origin of the infection.
An exceptional tragedy. A man in his thirties died of rabies at Perpignan Hospital on September 25, a week after his admission, reports L'Indépendant . This patient, returning from a trip to Morocco, had been placed in intensive care after the onset of serious symptoms. The hospital confirmed the diagnosis and opened an epidemiological investigation to understand the circumstances of the contamination.
According to a witness quoted by our colleagues, the patient exhibited characteristic hydrophobia (fear of water), followed by violent convulsions. Placed in intensive care, he was sedated and put into an induced coma, but his condition could not be stabilized. The day before his death, during treatment, "a nurse was reportedly sprayed on the arm," the witness said. She was immediately included in the anti-rabies vaccination protocol.
Although rabies is not transmitted from human to human, the hospital vaccinated the staff who treated the patient as a precaution. None were quarantined. The Regional Health Agency (ARS) and the French National Authority for Health (HAS) visited the site to oversee the procedures and ensure the safety of the teams.
The origin of the virus is still unclear
Where did the contamination come from? The man was returning from a trip to Morocco, where he may have been bitten or scratched by an animal. Scarifications observed on his back could provide a clue, but the exact origin remains to be determined. An epidemiological investigation is underway, coordinated by the ARS and the Pasteur Institute.
For healthcare professionals, this case illustrates the persistence of a health risk linked to the travel and movement of unvaccinated animals. "Such a case is extremely rare in France, but it raises public health issues that deserve to be brought to the public's attention," concludes a hospital witness in L'Indépendant.
https://www.ladepeche.fr/2025/10/01...t-sur-ce-cas-rarissime-en-france-12964106.php
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A death from rabies: but how is this still possible in France?
A man died in Perpignan after being infected with this virus, which is now very rare in France.
By Nicolas Berrod
October 1 , 2025 at 12:31 p.m. , modified October 1, 2025 at 4:40 p.m.
We thought it had disappeared from our regions, wrongly! Rabies has claimed a new victim , a man in his thirties who died at the hospital in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), the establishment announced this Tuesday. Hospitalized on September 18, he died a week later after his condition rapidly worsened.
A case that is far from unprecedented, but quite rare: an affected human is identified in France every two or three years , generally after being contaminated abroad. If this new patient was infected in France by a domestic animal, it would even be unprecedented for more than a century!
"The circumstances of his contamination are not yet known and several questions remain unanswered. He could have been infected either during a trip abroad to a country where rabies is widely circulating, or in Europe with a small, undetected chain of transmission," explains Hervé Bourhy, head of the National Reference Center (NRC) for rabies at the Pasteur Institute, who analyzed the samples and confirmed the diagnosis.
Dog bite
This Wednesday afternoon, however, infectious disease specialist Julian Cornanglia indicated that his patient had traveled to the Maghreb, suggesting a local origin... the precise location and date of which are not yet known. "The investigation is currently tracing his movements over the past year, as the incubation period for the rabies virus can be long," explained the Perpignan hospital practitioner.
Rabies is generally contracted after being bitten, scratched, or licked at a wound by an animal carrying the rabies virus (dog, cat, bat, etc.). The patient in Perpignan was "very likely" bitten by a dog, according to Dr. Cornanglia.
Don't worry if you've simply petted her; this pathogen is transmitted through saliva and doesn't penetrate healthy skin. Don't panic about possible human-to-human contamination either. The risk is very low, especially limited to organ transplants taken from a deceased, contaminated person.
Neurological symptoms
The symptoms are numerous, especially neurological: difficulty swallowing, anxiety, agitation, etc. The most serious ones appear, on average, one to two months after infection. "The one most suggestive of rabies is hydrophobia, which manifests itself by involuntary spasms at the sight or contact with water," Perrine Parize, deputy head of the CNR, told us in 2022 .
Indigenous cases, meaning those contaminated by an animal on French soil, are virtually non-existent thanks to "our highly efficient surveillance network," says Hervé Bourhy. "Many suspect animals are analyzed each year, and we also look into all human cases of suspected encephalitis," explains the scientist.
This monitoring is all the more necessary because rabies is almost always fatal once clinical signs appear. It is therefore necessary to be able to identify a potential patient before they become symptomatic, and that is the problem!
If a person has been bitten or seriously injured by an animal abroad, especially outside Europe, it is recommended that they consult a doctor or a rabies center as soon as possible upon their return. A four-day vaccination course or injections spread over a month may be offered.
60,000 deaths each year worldwide
More than 3,000 people benefit each year from this measure aimed at preventing disease, "prophylaxis" in medical jargon. As a precaution, around ten people from the infectious diseases department of Perpignan hospital were also vaccinated.
The fact remains that some individuals, like the Perpignan patient, slip through the net of surveillance and are treated much too late, for reasons that the ongoing investigation will have to establish. "The search for a suspicious animal in his entourage is underway, but so far, it has yielded nothing," said Dr. Cornanglia.
While rabies is no longer a major public health problem in France, where it can even be described as eliminated, it remains so elsewhere in the world. Each year, this disease still causes the death of approximately 60,000 people worldwide, mainly in Asia and Africa.
https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/s...nce-01-10-2025-GLO3B3L3VJDLNK2O7SMCMBMQO4.php
A man dies of rabies in Perpignan: patient profile, origin of the contamination... what we know about this extremely rare case in France
Miscellaneous facts , Health , France - World
Published on01/10/2025 at 07:39
PS with AFP
The essentials A thirty-year-old man returning from Morocco died Thursday, September 25, at a Perpignan hospital after contracting rabies. This extremely rare case in France has raised questions about the origin of the infection.
An exceptional tragedy. A man in his thirties died of rabies at Perpignan Hospital on September 25, a week after his admission, reports L'Indépendant . This patient, returning from a trip to Morocco, had been placed in intensive care after the onset of serious symptoms. The hospital confirmed the diagnosis and opened an epidemiological investigation to understand the circumstances of the contamination.
According to a witness quoted by our colleagues, the patient exhibited characteristic hydrophobia (fear of water), followed by violent convulsions. Placed in intensive care, he was sedated and put into an induced coma, but his condition could not be stabilized. The day before his death, during treatment, "a nurse was reportedly sprayed on the arm," the witness said. She was immediately included in the anti-rabies vaccination protocol.
Although rabies is not transmitted from human to human, the hospital vaccinated the staff who treated the patient as a precaution. None were quarantined. The Regional Health Agency (ARS) and the French National Authority for Health (HAS) visited the site to oversee the procedures and ensure the safety of the teams.
The origin of the virus is still unclear
Where did the contamination come from? The man was returning from a trip to Morocco, where he may have been bitten or scratched by an animal. Scarifications observed on his back could provide a clue, but the exact origin remains to be determined. An epidemiological investigation is underway, coordinated by the ARS and the Pasteur Institute.
For healthcare professionals, this case illustrates the persistence of a health risk linked to the travel and movement of unvaccinated animals. "Such a case is extremely rare in France, but it raises public health issues that deserve to be brought to the public's attention," concludes a hospital witness in L'Indépendant.
https://www.ladepeche.fr/2025/10/01...t-sur-ce-cas-rarissime-en-france-12964106.php
---------------------------------------------------------------
A death from rabies: but how is this still possible in France?
A man died in Perpignan after being infected with this virus, which is now very rare in France.
By Nicolas Berrod
October 1 , 2025 at 12:31 p.m. , modified October 1, 2025 at 4:40 p.m.
We thought it had disappeared from our regions, wrongly! Rabies has claimed a new victim , a man in his thirties who died at the hospital in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), the establishment announced this Tuesday. Hospitalized on September 18, he died a week later after his condition rapidly worsened.
A case that is far from unprecedented, but quite rare: an affected human is identified in France every two or three years , generally after being contaminated abroad. If this new patient was infected in France by a domestic animal, it would even be unprecedented for more than a century!
"The circumstances of his contamination are not yet known and several questions remain unanswered. He could have been infected either during a trip abroad to a country where rabies is widely circulating, or in Europe with a small, undetected chain of transmission," explains Hervé Bourhy, head of the National Reference Center (NRC) for rabies at the Pasteur Institute, who analyzed the samples and confirmed the diagnosis.
Dog bite
This Wednesday afternoon, however, infectious disease specialist Julian Cornanglia indicated that his patient had traveled to the Maghreb, suggesting a local origin... the precise location and date of which are not yet known. "The investigation is currently tracing his movements over the past year, as the incubation period for the rabies virus can be long," explained the Perpignan hospital practitioner.
Rabies is generally contracted after being bitten, scratched, or licked at a wound by an animal carrying the rabies virus (dog, cat, bat, etc.). The patient in Perpignan was "very likely" bitten by a dog, according to Dr. Cornanglia.
Don't worry if you've simply petted her; this pathogen is transmitted through saliva and doesn't penetrate healthy skin. Don't panic about possible human-to-human contamination either. The risk is very low, especially limited to organ transplants taken from a deceased, contaminated person.
Neurological symptoms
The symptoms are numerous, especially neurological: difficulty swallowing, anxiety, agitation, etc. The most serious ones appear, on average, one to two months after infection. "The one most suggestive of rabies is hydrophobia, which manifests itself by involuntary spasms at the sight or contact with water," Perrine Parize, deputy head of the CNR, told us in 2022 .
Indigenous cases, meaning those contaminated by an animal on French soil, are virtually non-existent thanks to "our highly efficient surveillance network," says Hervé Bourhy. "Many suspect animals are analyzed each year, and we also look into all human cases of suspected encephalitis," explains the scientist.
This monitoring is all the more necessary because rabies is almost always fatal once clinical signs appear. It is therefore necessary to be able to identify a potential patient before they become symptomatic, and that is the problem!
If a person has been bitten or seriously injured by an animal abroad, especially outside Europe, it is recommended that they consult a doctor or a rabies center as soon as possible upon their return. A four-day vaccination course or injections spread over a month may be offered.
60,000 deaths each year worldwide
More than 3,000 people benefit each year from this measure aimed at preventing disease, "prophylaxis" in medical jargon. As a precaution, around ten people from the infectious diseases department of Perpignan hospital were also vaccinated.
The fact remains that some individuals, like the Perpignan patient, slip through the net of surveillance and are treated much too late, for reasons that the ongoing investigation will have to establish. "The search for a suspicious animal in his entourage is underway, but so far, it has yielded nothing," said Dr. Cornanglia.
While rabies is no longer a major public health problem in France, where it can even be described as eliminated, it remains so elsewhere in the world. Each year, this disease still causes the death of approximately 60,000 people worldwide, mainly in Asia and Africa.
https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/s...nce-01-10-2025-GLO3B3L3VJDLNK2O7SMCMBMQO4.php