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FAO official touts neutering to free bali from rabies

A UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) official wants the Bali administration to continue its mass canine sterilization and vaccination program to stop the spread of rabies in Bali by the end of 2012

Luh De Suriyani (The Jakarta Post)
Denpasar
Mon, February 27, 2012

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FAO official touts neutering to free bali  from rabies

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UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) official wants the Bali administration to continue its mass canine sterilization and vaccination program to stop the spread of rabies in Bali by the end of 2012.

“Controlling the canine population by sterilizing female canines and vaccinating all puppies is crucial,” FAO national technical advisor Achmad Gozali said when discussing a recently released report.

Achmad also said it was urgent to tag and vaccinate all stray dogs.

The third stage of the province’s mass vaccination program is scheduled for implementation at the banjar (traditional neighborhood organization) level over the next three months.

Stray dogs will be kept alive at this stage, while vaccinations will proceed for an additional six months.

Bali Husbandry Agency chief I Putu Sumantra said the third stage would begin on Mar. 27 in Klungkung.

The agency would vaccinate 70 percent of the dogs in villages without rabies cases, and the entire canine population, including stray dogs and puppies, in villages that have recorded cases of rabies, Sumantra said.

At the peak of the isle’s epidemic, 281 villages reported rabies cases. Currently there are only 32 villages with cases, while other villages have not recorded rabies cases in the past six months.

According to the Bali Veterinary Board, 86 percent of the dogs who tested positive for rabies in Bali were stray dogs that were not vaccinated.

Officials have readied 550,000 vaccine doses of vaccine and 546 personnel for stage 3. There are reportedly currently 62,000 doses of human rabies vaccine at hospitals across the island.

The provincial and central government have allocated Rp 13.8 billion (US$1.53 million) for the mass vaccination program  Previously, rabies prevention programs in Bali were also funded by AusAID, USAID, and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA).

The incidence of rabies has decreased in Bali since the administration started its mass vaccination program. Since 2008, 138 people in Bali have died from rabies, with the most fatalities recorded in Buleleng and Badung.

The latest person to die from rabies in Bali was Nengah Pica from Rendang, Karangasem, who died four months after he was bitten by a dog.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Rabies Serum (SAR) for high-risk bites to the neck and face is limited in supply, as the World Health Organization (WHO) allowed only nine vials of SAR for three patients only.

SAR, which costs Rp 5 mllion for a three-dose course of therapy, has a short shelf life and is only available in Bali at private international hospitals.

Bali’s canine population grows by 30 percent a year, making sterilization essential for controlling rabies, according to reports.

Limited sterilization among female dogs had been under way since late last year. “Only the female dogs are targeted for sterilization. Castration for male dogs is expected to be done by the residents themselves,” Sumantra said.

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