Doctors in Britain are testing a paerson suspected of having contracted rabies, according to the Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS).
A PHLS spokesman said the person, whom he would not identify, had been bitten by a dog while in the Philippines. The disease of the central nervous system is transmitted to humans by a bite from rabid animals, often dogs.
This case is in a traveller recently arrived in the United Kingdom, the spokesman told Reuters.
He said the case posed no public health safety risk because it was almost impossible to transmit the disease from one human to another.
"There have been no indigenous cases for decades," he said."Rabies has been eliminated from the animal population in this country."
Britain's strict quarantine rules, in place to protect it from rabies, were recently relaxed under an animal passport scheme.
Cats and dogs from rabies-free countries can now enter the country without first going into quarantine. They must be vaccinated and then undergo blood tests to check that the injections have worked.
PA