Image: Warning. More rabies in Gianyar. Credit: accesswdun.com.
The Head of Gianyar Agriculture Department, Made Raka, said on Sunday that there was another case of rabies found in Banjar Sangging, Candi Baru, Gianyar last Friday.
The case was investigated after being reported directly to Gianyar Agriculture Dept. “From the observations, we found that after biting the victim, the dog did not eat anything and then died,” Raka told balipost.com.
Raka admitted that Gianyar still cannot achieve zero cases of rabies like Denpasar and Klungkung. This is because of the local residents’ awareness or lack thereof.
According to Raka, if the dog owners had the initiative, they could bring the dog directly to the dept. to get the vaccination. He also felt that the residents have not followed the government’s advice.
“We have communicated the SOP many times. If there was a bite, please look for a VAR (Anti Rabies Vaccine), and then they need to leash the dog. But, as in this case, most of the dogs were still wandering around after the attack,” he said.
Raka said that there were two rabies cases since the beginning of January, and they will keep monitoring the development of both cases. “On these occasions the dogs bit their owners. If they bit another person, we would have some difficulties to track them down,” he said. Raka also insisted that Gianyar residents must realise the rabies danger and discipline themselves about dog handling.
The first Gianyar rabies case in 2018 was a dog that was infected by rabies in Buruan Village, Blahbatuh. The owner of the dog, Ketut Catu Udaya, 54, and his wife, Sang Ayu Sumargi, 53, were bitten, before the dog died on Tuesday.
