TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Rabies now reported in 24 provinces
Rabies has spread to 24 of the nation’s 33 provinces, according to a top Health Ministry official
Change Size
Rabies has spread to 24 of the nation’s 33 provinces, according to a top Health Ministry official.
Only Bangka Belitung, Central Java, East Java, Jakarta and Yogyakarta were free of the disease, Health Ministry vector-borne disease control director Rita Kusriastuti said in Yogyakarta recently at the annual meeting of the Asian Rabies Expert Bureau (AREB).
The provinces with the highest incidence of rabies were Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, North Sumatra and North Sulawesi.
“We have about 21,000 cases of rabies annually,” Rita said. Stray dogs were the principal cause of new infections, she added.
Rita called on dog owners not to let their pets roam free, asking them to tie up their dogs while at home or to put them in cages as a precaution.
Dogs should also be vaccinated against rabies to prevent the disease from spreading from dogs to humans, Rita said.
Prevention was paramount to prevent the transfer of rabies from dogs to humans an infectious diseases physician, Rita said. Treating people for rabies was more dangerous and expensive than inoculating dogs, she said.
“Just one shot costs Rp 500,000 [US$52] and Jamkesmas [community health insurance program] has yet to cover medication for the disease,” Rita said.
The vice president of the Rabies in Asia Foundation (RIA), Abdul Rahman of India, agreed, saying that the most effective way to preventthe spread of rabies was canine vaccination.
“If we can give vaccinations to 70 percent of the canine population, we can control this disease in dogs and humans,” Abdul said.
Meanwhile, representatives of the 11 nations participating in AREB’s five-day meeting agreed on Friday to implement the “one-health” approach to fight rabies in the region.
The approach requires veterinarians and physicians to work together to combat rabies.
AREB coordinator Betty Dodet was direct when discussing the importance of fighting the disease.
“Rabies is one of the most deadly diseases in the world today and affects humans and animals with a fatality rate approaching 100 percent,” Betty said.
The 11 nations sending representatives to the conference were Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Thailand.
According to the AREB, rabies kills 70,000 people a year in Asia and Africa, 70 percent of whom are children between 5 and 15 years old.
“Since rabies is a disease common to humans and animals, medical doctors and veterinarians should work together to eliminate rabies,” Betty said.
