New rabies victim in Sarawak

KUCHING: The Ministry of Health yesterday confirmed another human rabies case in Sarawak.

The Borneo Post had reported on its front page yesterday that a patient was believed to have been warded at the infectious disease ward of the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) for what a reliable source had claimed was rabies.

The patient is a 21-year-old from Mile 7 here, who was bitten by a stray dog on Oct 4 but did not clean the wound or get any immediate medical treatment.

It is understood the victim only bought a cream to treat the wound.

The health status of the stray dog was unknown at the time.

On Nov 21, the youth complained of back pain but claimed he had fallen a day earlier.

He sought treatment at SGH on Saturday (Nov 24), which was when he reported having been bitten by a stray dog.

As of Nov 15, the Sarawak government has declared 54 areas as rabies-infected, with 12 human fatalities recorded since the rabies outbreak was declared in June last year.

Excluding the latest patient, one other individual remains rabiespositive.

Statistics released by the State Disaster Management Committee on Nov 15 show 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 other types of animals have been vaccinated for rabies, while there are currently 258 dogs and 15 cats in Sarawak that are positive for the virus.

The committee also reported that 5,902 persons have received anti-rabies shots within the same period.