Dog which bit woman rabies positive

KUCHING: The woman bitten by a rabies-positive dog at a plantation in Telagus, Serian is not the latest human rabies positive case in Sarawak.

As such, the human rabies positive cases still stand at six persons as up to yesterday.

A spokesperson from the State Disaster Management Committee’s secretariat yesterday clarified that the victim, a 42-yearold Indonesian national, had been given four doses of full anti-rabies vaccine injections following the dog bite.

She was bitten on her right calf, and had received outpatient treatment at the dog bite clinic in Serian Hospital on Oct 19, followed by another treatment on Oct 24.

The spokesperson also mentioned the dog that bit the woman was found to be rabies positive on Tuesday following histopathologic findings on a blood sample received from the Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) in Ipoh.

“There is no new positive rabies cases involving humans. Instead, this particular case involves a rabies-positive dog in that plantation based on the report received by us from the State Veterinary Services Department. The State Health Department also confirmed this latest case as not a human rabies positive case,” said the spokesperson.

All six human rabies victims so far are locals from Serian. Five of them including two young siblings have died since the outbreak was discovered on June 30.

The State Disaster Management Committee secretariat spokesman said the particular plantation in Telagus, Serian had been declared the 27th rabies infected area in Sarawak after the rabies positive dog was found to be owned by someone from the plantation.

Serian has the highest number of places being declared as rabiesinfested with 21 areas, followed by Kuching (four areas) and one each in Sri Aman and Samarahan.