Lisa McMurray (c. 1974 - 6 January 2009) is notable for being the first victim of the disease rabies in Northern Ireland for 71 years. It is believed she contracted the infection several months prior to diagnosis, whilst overseas in an area where rabies is prominent in animals, but only recently became ill. She had been in South Africa on a number of different occasions in recent years and whilst there was reported to have been bitten by a dog. In e-mails she sent home, she described how she had been scratched whilst separating two dogs, one of which was put down after it started foaming at the mouth (a classic symptom of rabies). Another possibility is that she contracted the disease after she was bitten by a monkey at an animal sanctuary in South Africa. The last human case of the disease in Northern Ireland was reported in 1938.
McMurray was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in December 2008. She was described as being in a critical condition and had to be nursed in isolation. She died less than a month later on 6 January 2009.
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