Woman dies from rabies after cat bite in Kostanay region

Tengrinews.kz - A woman in the Kostanay region has died from rabies, marking the first human death from the disease in the region in the past five years, citing “Nasha Gazeta.”
The resident of the Kamysty district in the Kostanay region passed away at the Lisakovsk city hospital after developing the disease from a pet animal bite.
According to the Department of Sanitary and Epidemiological Control, the woman sought medical help too late, only after the clinical symptoms of the disease had already appeared. Doctors were unable to save her.
An epidemiological investigation revealed that the infection resulted from a bite by her pet cat. After the incident, the animal went missing. The woman did not undergo a course of preventive vaccinations and failed to seek medical attention in time.
Rabies is an extremely dangerous infectious disease that affects the central nervous system and is fatal in the vast majority of cases, experts say. The virus is typically transmitted through bites or the saliva of infected animals coming into contact with broken skin.
Experts note that the incubation period can range from a few days to several months—or even up to a year—depending on the location of the bite. In this case, the symptoms appeared only several months after the bite.

"In 99 percent of rabies cases, the infection occurs after animal bites. This can be prevented by timely vaccination of pets and emergency vaccination of people after being bitten," the department stated.

According to official data, the primary carriers of rabies in Kazakhstan are dogs, cats, foxes, as well as hedgehogs, badgers, and wolves. Infections from livestock, such as cows, sheep, horses, and rodents, occur less frequently.
The regional veterinary authority reported that over the past five years, there have been 45 cases of rabies in domestic, farm, and wild animals in the Kostanay region. Since the beginning of 2025, five cases have already been confirmed.
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