Abstract
A questionnaire survey on the incidence of rabies in camels, targeting camel herdsmen, was carried out to investigate the incidence of the disease in the central region of Saudi Arabia. Forty eight camel herdsmen looking after 4124 camels were included in the survey. The questionnaire included incidence of the disease, animal transmitting the disease, clinical signs and whether rabid camels are source of infection to humans. The incidence of the disease was found to be about 0.2%. The disease was transmitted in about 70% of cases by bites from rabid wild dogs and in 17% of cases from bites of rabid foxes. The source of infection was not found in about 13% of cases. Camels were bitten when they defend their neonates from attacking predators. The usual sites of the bite were either on fore or hind limbs. The disease was mainly of the silent or dumb type (67% of cases). The male camel was especially dangerous when showing the furious form of the disease, attacking and biting nearby objects and mutilating its own body. The clinical signs of the disease were restlessness, salivation and rotation of head and neck in all directions. These signs were soon followed by paralysis, recumbency and death. Results also showed that camels did not transmit rabies to humans. Reporting of rabies in camels in Qassim region is poor since camel owners are nomads which travel far and inaccessible distances in the desert. They are also not keen to report the disease to the veterinary authorities. A rabid camel is usually saggregated from the herd and left to die in the desert, or destroyed when aggressive. During 2002 - 2006, three heads of suspected rabid camels were examined histopathologically for the presence of viral inclusions (Negri bodies). There was no encephalitis and the viral inclusions were found in the midbrain nerves cell bodies. The number of viral inclusions varied from one to four and stained faintly acidophilic with haematoxylin and eosin.