Remains of religious offerings were scattered here and there at the small house of Ni Made Carni in Kesiman, East Denpasar, last Friday in the afternoon.
The 40-year-old woman had just witnessed the body of her beloved son, I Made Wiadi Astana, 13, cremated at the local cemetery that afternoon.
After the cremation, Carni drowned her sorrows by preparing the necessary offerings for her son's official ngaben (cremation) ritual slated to be held Nov. 19.
"Nov. 19 is the auspicious day to conduct ngaben rites. Today we only cremated the body while all the necessary rituals will be conducted on Nov. 19."
Wiadi Astana passed away at pre-dawn on Friday after a brief bout against various symptoms closely associated with rabies infections.
Curiously, the boy had never been bitten by a dog, not recently at least.
"He was bitten by a dog three years ago, but we hadn't had a rabies epidemic at that time."
However, Carni said one of Wiadi Astana's friends told her about a specific event that might shed light on why her boy's death was preceded by rabies symptoms.
"This boy said that my son recently visited his house and played with his dog. My son loved dogs and his friend said that my son tickled and kissed the dog."
Carni said that the physician who treated Wiadi Astana said the boy might have contracted rabies if an exchange of saliva had taken place as he kissed the dog.
"But I haven't completely bought that explanation."
The boy fell ill on Wednesday and complained of breathing difficulties, numb tongue, fever, nausea and throat pain. Those symptoms were all correlated to the early stage of rabies infection.
The family rushed him to Sanglah Central Hospital, the island's primary medical facility for rabies. During treatment, Wiadi Astana displayed all the other symptoms of rabies, including the ones that correlated to the second stage of infection and eventually to the often fatal third stage of infection.
Sanglah Rabies Mitigation Team secretary Ken Wirasandhi confirmed that Wiadi Astana died after displaying clinical symptoms closely associated with rabies.
However, he said a lab test would determine whether rabies was indeed the cause of the boy's death.
The boy's family insisted that they wanted to see the results of the lab test.
"We have yet to receive the results of the lab test confirming that my son died because of rabies. I still dont believe that my son got rabies," Carni said.
Up to now, at least 19 people had died after displaying rabies symptoms.
Bali Health Agency reported that lab tests confirmed that five people died because of rabies infection.
The agency admitted it had not conducted lab tests on every person who had died of the symptoms.
The rabies epidemic first hit the island late last year and currently has affected four regions; Denpasar, Badung, Tabanan and Karangasem.
So far, Bali Veterinary Agency had only managed to inoculate 40 percent of the island's 300,000 dogs, the primary vector of the epidemic.
