Veterinarians around Mkhambathini Municipality outside Pietermaritzburg have seen an alarming increase in positive cases of rabies since October.

One of the vets said they were seeing these positive rabies cases in dogs and cats. He added there were also concerns over positive cases of rabies in sheep.

According to statistics on the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development website, there were 21 new rabies cases reported between November 7 and November 17.

The rabies hotspot areas are Inchanga, Verulam and Tongaat, which are all under the eThekwini and Simbithi municipalities in KwaDukuza, on the north coast of KZN.

There were also positive cases found in the Msunduzi and uMshwathi municipalities.

Hayfields Veterinary Hospital on Monday shared a Facebook post warning residents about the spike and urged residents to vaccinate their cats and dogs against rabies.

It said it is a legal requirement that all cats and dogs over the age of 12 weeks must be vaccinated against rabies.

Department of Agriculture spokesperson Mack Makhathini said there was a very concerning inland movement of rabies into Hammarsdale and uMgungundlovu District.

Makhathini said the vaccinations for rabies was low which was one of the reasons for the increase in cases.

He added the vaccination drives have been hampered by the department’s vehicles being hijacked, especially in eThekwini.

He shared they had limited staff, who were also attending to other diseases such as foot and mouth disease.

“On the map, other species that have had rabies and livestock cases are rare. However, there have been reports of rabies cases in sheep. Nobody should eat or cut up a carcass with rabies, even though the risk is low in cooked meat,” he concluded.