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People walk their dogs in Central Park at the vernal equinox, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, March 20, 2021. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday that it will temporarily suspend the import of dogs from 113 countries classified as high-risk for rabies in dogs as of July 14.
The suspension applies to all dogs, including puppies, emotional support dogs, and dogs who have traveled outside the United States and returned from high-risk countries. It also includes dogs who arrive from other countries if they have been in a high-risk country within the previous six months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, “The interim measure is necessary to ensure the health and safety of dogs imported into the United States and to protect public health from reintroduction of the canine rabies virus variant (canine rabies) into the United States.”
Over the past year during the COVID pandemic, “there has been a significant increase in the number of dogs being imported and providing false or falsified rabies vaccination certificates,” Emily Biracci, the CDC’s veterinary medical officer, told Reuters. The CDC said the 113 countries include Russia, China, India, Brazil, Peru, Kenya, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belarus, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Jordan, Ecuador, Cuba, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.
Beracci also noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, many dog vaccination programs around the world have been suspended or canceled. She cited an increasing number of rabies cases in dogs of Haiti and Peru as a result of reduced dog vaccination.
“Given the impact of COVID on these vaccination programs around the world, we’re not really sure what the rabies landscape will look like in the future,” Beracci said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously estimated that 1.06 million dogs are imported into the United States annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that the import ban, which it expects to last for a year, will affect about 6% of imported dogs.
The CDC said that due to the impact of COVID-19 on flight schedules, dogs denied entry face longer wait times to be returned to the country of departure, leading to illness and even death in some cases.
Rabies in dogs has been eliminated from the United States since 2007, but it is still prevalent in many countries and kills 59,000 people annually worldwide. These deaths can be prevented if they are vaccinated before symptoms appear.
While dogs in the United States may get infection from raccoons, skunks, or bats, they will not get canine rabies from another dog.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may grant “on a very limited basis” prior written approval allowing “the import of fully vaccinated dogs, of 6 months of age or older, from a high-risk country.”
Another issue is fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates. Dogs from high-risk countries cannot enter the United States until they are 16 weeks old and must be vaccinated.
There are a few places to properly house dogs that are prohibited from entering the United States. The CDC only has one quarantine facility at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport for dogs, Beracci said, and the lack of facilities has led to “unsafe” conditions for airport workers and dogs.
“Some of them were housed in the airline’s cargo warehouses for extended periods of time leading to illness and in some cases the deaths of dogs,” Beracci said. “We want people to be able to import dogs – but we want them to do so safely.”
The CDC said other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and members of the European Union that have also eliminated rabies in dogs have significantly greater testing, screening and quarantine requirements than the United States.
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