VET Fiona Thomson flew out to Malawi to help vaccinate dogs in one of the world's rabies hotspots.

But as luck would have it, she was bitten by a dog on her first day there.

She needed an additional vaccination after that encounter - but all's well that ends well.

The 26-year-old is now back home and says her experience in the southern African country was "the best of my life."

Fiona, who works with The Pets’n’Vets Family, made the long flight out as part of a mission staged by the UK charity, Mission Rabies.

It works to eliminate rabies around the world, combining global outreach vaccination programmes with community education, and aiming to improve human and animal health.

Rabies kills an estimated 100 children every day across the world, yet is fully preventable through effective vaccination. Scotland has led the way in showing that vaccination in the field can greatly improve the control of rabies within the wild and domestic dog population, thus meaningfully reducing the risk of human disease.

Said Fiona: “Being involved in Mission Rabies was the best experience of my life! Despite being bitten by the dog on my first day in Blantyre I would go back to Malawi as part of Mission Rabies in a heartbeat if I got the opportunity.”

She personally vaccinated 3000 dogs on her trip, with the Mission Rabies team vaccinating more than 35,000 stray dogs over the course of two and a half weeks.

Rosalind Johnston, Mission Rabies – Global Education Manager, said: “Fiona was a great asset to our team, with a great attitude and putting so much energy in.

"We are delighted to have collaborated with The Pets’n’Vets Family and would warmly welcome Fiona back next year."

The veterinary services provided by Mission Rabies is reliant upon a large team of dedicated volunteers from around the world – but only Fiona travelled to Blantyre, Malawi from Blantyre, South Lanarkshire.

Oliver Jackson, partner at Pets’n’Vets, which sponsored the Mission Rabies programme, said: “As the area targeted by Mission Rabies in Malawi is Blantyre, we thought this represented an ideal opportunity for Pets’n’Vets, which has a local community practice in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, to contribute to this exceptionally worthwhile cause.

“That’s why we sponsored Fiona to travel to Blantyre to make a real difference to human and animal health in Malawi.”