File image. Photo: befunky.com
A person has died of rabies in Auckland in what health authorities say is the first known case of the disease in New Zealand.
They were an overseas traveller and contracted it abroad.
Ministry of Health director of public health Dr Nick Jones said person to person transmission of rabies was extremely rare, almost unknown, so there was no risk to members of the public.
"The person was notified as having suspected rabies when first admitted to hospital in early March so was managed with full infection control measures while at Auckland City Hospital and at Whangārei Hospital where they were first diagnosed," Te Whatu Ora said in a statement.
"Rabies is usually caught from the saliva of an infected animal when a person is bitten. If the person does not seek treatment between being bitten and the development of symptoms, then rabies is usually fatal."
No further details will be released, to protect the person's identity.
Te Whatu Ora said New Zealand did not have rabies in its animal or human populations and the case did not change our rabies-free status.
Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said the situation was very sad.
"One of the things about rabies is everyone who gets it does die of rabies so the person would have been very sick at some point.
"The sequence of the rabies virus that was taken from them is consistent with the rabies in that country."
She was not concerned about further transmission.
"There cannot be transmission from that person to another person and we don't have rabies in a group of animals in New Zealand."
New Zealanders worried about getting rabies overseas could seek a vaccination through their doctor, she said.