Hospital probe as widow claims Brit with rabies 'only given E45 cream' when attending A&E

A hospital trust is investigating after a man died from rabies, with his widow claiming he was given anti-itch cream when he sought help.

Omar Zouhri, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was bitten by a rabid cat in Morocco on August 31. He attended Stoke Mandeville Hospital for a rabies jab on October 5 and visited A&E on October 28 suffering finger pains.

But his widow, Chadia Zouhri, told the Sun he was sent home with E45 cream. She said: "The poor man begged so many for help but no-one was there for him.”

The father-of-two returned to the hospital the next day suffering a fever, before being transported to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford on November 1. He died on November 4.

Dr Tina Kenny, medical director of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which is responsible for Stoke Mandeville, said on Wednesday that an internal investigation had been launched.

She said in a statement: “We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Zouhri.

“We can confirm that Mr Zouhri attended Stoke Mandeville Hospital before being transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford as the regional referral centre for infectious diseases.

“Given that deaths from rabies are so rare in this country, we have already begun our own internal review of Mr Zouhri's care and understand that an inquest into his death will be opened in due course.”

She continued: “It is therefore not appropriate to make any further comment until the inquest has concluded.

“However, if the family have any concerns about the care they received at our hospital, we would encourage them to get in touch and discuss them with us."

Meanwhile, Nabil Jellal, Mr Zouhri's nephew, told the Daily Mirror of seeing him deteriorate in hospital.

He said: "He was sedated but he was still fighting. He was trying to fight it and not let it beat him."

"He was speaking a bit, some of his last words were to ask us to look after his family."

Public Health England issued a warning to travellers after Mr Zouhri contracted the disease.

Prompt care, including wound cleaning and a course of the rabies vaccine, is usually effective and can save an infected person's life.

It is believed he sought care both in Morocco and when at home after being bitten. No more details have been released by government officials about the case.

Public Health England said there was "no risk" to the wider public but as a precautionary measure, health workers and close contacts have been offered vaccination if necessary.

Rabies does not circulate in either wild or domestic animals in the UK, but between 2000 and 2017 five UK residents became infected with rabies after "animal exposures abroad”.

The last recorded rabies case in Britain was in 2012, when a UK resident was bitten by a dog in south Asia.

Additional reporting by Press Association.