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102 Suspected Human Fatalities from Rabies in Bali
Denpasar - The Health Service Office of Bali Province is overwhelmed by the always increasing count of human victims falling from rabies. Since it emerged in Bali in mid 2008, by Friday (15/10) 102 people are suspected to have died from the disease, with age varying from children to elders and cases outspread in all districts and municipality in Bali.
Data from the Health Service Office reveals that from 102 cases of human fatalities, 41 have been confirmed to be rabies. In 2008, from 4 suspect cases, 1 victim was confirmed positive for rabies. In 2009, of 28 suspect cases, 14 were confirmed positive. And in 2010, from 70 suspect cases, 26 were confirmed positive for rabies.
In the last three days, three people had died in Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar. The victims were Made Putu Mudiastra (20) from Karangasem, Nyoman Jasa (40) from Bangli, and Nyoman Suwandi (50) from Denpasar. Medical records show they had a history of being bitten by a dog several months ago and had not received appropriate treatment.
“We haven’t made a plan on what else we should do to prevent and anticipate rabies. We did not predict that victims would continue falling despite all our efforts, from vaccination to elimination,” said Head of the Health Service Office of Bali Province, I Nyoman Sutedja, on Friday.
I Nyoman Sutedja hopes there will be a coordination meeting to evaluate the rabies eradication program for Bali. He thinks there is an increasing trend since September and there is a possibility it will stay high until December.
The reason is because many ceremonies in Bali are held starting September until December. These ceremonies usually attract feral dogs to come and scavenge for food around the event area. “But this is still a temporary analysis of the increased number of dog bite cases,” he said.
In the last two years, the Livestock Service Office of Bali has eliminated at least 100,000 feral dogs and vaccinated 250,000 dogs. Dog bites have reached 50,000 cases or around 135 cases per day. (AYS)
Source : Kompas