Five villages in Serian declared rabies-infected areas

KUCHING: The state government has declared the five villages in Serian district affected by the rabies outbreak as rabies-infected areas by gazette notification under Section 37 of the Veterinary Public Health Ordinance 1999.

The five villages are Kampung Kerait, Kampung Paon Rimu, Kampung Paun Rimu Bakung, Kampung Remun and Kampung Lebor.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said he has also issued the Anti-Rabies Vaccination Order, mandating all household dogs in the infected areas and areas under surveillance within a 10km radius be vaccinated with antirabies vaccine.

“We are sending our vaccination teams today (yesterday) to carry out the vaccinations initially inside the infected zones and thereafter to the areas within the surveillance zones,” he told a press conference after chairing a State Disaster Management Committee meeting at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.

He also noted that the state government is working closely with the Health Department, Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia, police, army, local authorities, district office, private clinic veterinarians, Sarawak Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), local communities and other relevant state and federal agencies to control and eventually eradicate the disease from the state.

Uggah, who is also the State Disaster Management Committee chairman, said at present, the rabies outbreak is contained within ground zero of the five villages.

“We have also extended the surveillance area to 10km from ground zero because we were informed that when a dog is infected by rabies, it will die within three to nine days —its movement will be limited and so on,” he explained.

Asked if the committee had been able to pinpoint the source of the outbreak, he said they were still in the midst of studying the situation.

“Stray dogs may be the source but where they come from, that we are not certain of yet. Our Veterinary Department is conducting a count on the number of dogs and so on within ground zero.

“We will find out the main cause, but in the mean time, we are tightening our borders and have deployed the police and army to help us at the border to make sure there won't be any transfer of dogs and cats from Kalimantan to Sarawak,” he assured.

To ensure the success of this operation, Uggah has called for the full cooperation of all dog owners to have their dogs vaccinated as soon as possible so that the rabies outbreak can be contained and eradicated in the shortest possible time.

“The public must take precaution when they come across an aggressive dog while walking around their village and also advise their children to do the same.