Another patient suspected of rabies

GEORGE TOWN: Another patient is being treated at a Sarawak hospital for suspected rabies or mad dog disease.

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya said the ministry is awaiting the patient’s test results which, if found positive, will bring the number of confirmed cases to four in the latest rabies outbreak in Sarawak.

“I’ve been informed of this new suspected case from the same affected area and we are conducting tests to determine if the patient is actually down with rabies.

“I cannot comment further on this … we are giving appropriate treatment (to the patient),” he told reporters after handing out RM100,000 from the UEM Edgenta Berhad zakat fund to Penang Hospital (HPP) yesterday.

The contribution is for needy patients who require medical treatment including surgery at the hospital. Also present at the presentation were UEM Edgenta managing director and chief executive officer Azmir Merican and HPP director Datuk Dr Norsidah Ismail.

On the seven-year-old girl being treated at the intensive care unit of Sarawak General Hospital for rabies, Hilmi said the child is still in critical condition.

Three children including two siblings were confirmed to have contracted rabies.

On July 4, Monica Mazlan, six, and her brother Jackson, four, from Kampung Paon, Sungai Rimu, Serian, died after their parents allowed doctors to remove their life support system when the diagnosis confirmed they were brain dead.