Rabies claims 13th victim in Sarawak
KUCHING: The man who was admitted to Sarawak General Hospital ( SGH) for rabies is believed to have succumbed to the disease.
Pending an official confirmation from the Health Ministry, the 21year- old would be the 13th human casualty in Sarawak since rabies was declared an epidemic in the state in June last year.
The victim’s mother told The Borneo Post that the victim – the eldest of five siblings – was bitten on his right leg by a stray dog at his workplace in Batu Kitang in October.
She said he began showing symptoms of the disease about a month later and sought medical treatment at SGH.
According to her, the family hails from Miri but her son had been living with an uncle here for the past eight years.
It was previously reported that the victim did not clean the dog bite wound or seek treatment, but had merely purchased medicine from a pharmacy to treat the wound.
On Nov 21, he complained of back pain but claimed he had fallen down a day earlier, and only sought treatment at SGH on Nov 24 where it was learned that he had been bitten by a dog.
As of Dec 4, 56 areas throughout the state have been declared as rabies- infected, with only one individual surviving albeit still rabies-positive.
Statistics released by the State Disaster Management Committee on Nov 15 showed there have been 16,754 registered cases of animal bites – mostly by dogs and cats – since June last year.
Over the same period, 95,223 dogs, 8,496 cats and 56 others types of animals have been vaccinated for rabies, while 258 dogs and 15 cats are positive for the virus.
The committee also reported that 5,902 persons have received anti-rabies shots within the same period.