Quoted by CNN News
Gregg Oelofse, the coastal manager of Cape Town, reports that dead seals are showing up on beaches amid the first-ever rabies outbreak among marine creatures.
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Although there has only been one previous documented instance of rabies in seals, which occurred in Norway in 1980, Cape Town has confirmed 11 positive cases among southern African native Cape fur seals. Oelofse pointed out that a large number of the dead seals that have appeared along the shoreline this week have passed away naturally.
The virus’s genetic makeup is being sequenced in an effort to determine the source of the rabies infection.
The provincial health department for the Western Cape cautioned against interacting with seals and alerted locals to the possible rabies danger along the shoreline.
Though the situation is worrisome, no seal-to-human rabies transmissions have occurred, and officials are attempting to stop this from happening among people who often come into touch with seals, such surfers and scuba divers.
