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Jakarta Post

Rabies outbreak kills five in W. Nusa Tenggara

The provincial administration has declared an extraordinary situation for the rabies outbreak.

Panca Nugraha (The Jakarta Post)
Mataram
Wed, February 6, 2019

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Rabies outbreak kills five in W. Nusa Tenggara A man fills a syringe with a rabies vaccine for dogs and cats to prevent the spread of the virus. JP/ Zul Trio Anggono (JP/Zul Trio Anggono)

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abies outbreaks are on the rise in Dompu regency, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), as the disease has already claimed the lives of five out of 527 people bitten by dogs over the past six months.

The NTB provincial administration has declared an extraordinary situation for the outbreak in the regency, while local authorities have stepped up measures to curb the spread of the disease and treat the infected patients.

“We have made maximum efforts to anticipate further outbreaks […] and to prevent the disease from spreading,” NTB deputy governor Sitti Rohmi Djalilah said on Wednesday.

The NTB Health Agency recorded 527 cases of people being bitten by dogs in Dompu from August 2018 to February this year.

Rohmi said most cases of rabies occurred in Dompu and Sumbawa Island, while Lombok remained rabies-free.

The local administration had banned dogs, cats and monkeys from passing through ports between Sumbawa and Lombok as part of efforts to prevent the disease from spreading, she said.

The provincial health agency, Dompu Health Agency and community health centers (Puskesmas) had carried out vaccination for those at risk of getting infected, she said.

Budi Septiani, the head of NTB Animal Husbandry and Health Agency, said about 9,800 dogs currently lived in Dompu, some 4,000 of which were pets. (afr)

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