DOH: Vaccinate dogs vs rabies

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Health (DOH) has called on dog owners to have their dogs vaccinated against rabies.

“It is our responsibility to make sure that they are given vaccination… If they are vaccinated from rabies, the humans will also be protected,” DOH spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy said yesterday.

Lee Suy said the country is on its way to eliminating rabies, citing the declining number of rabies in humans reported to the DOH.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said rabies is 100 percent preventable through vaccination, but one person still dies of it every 15 minutes worldwide. Forty percent of the victims are younger than 15.

On its Twitter account, the WHO said rabies could be transmitted through the saliva of an infected animal. “The virus attacks the brain and is fatal once symptoms appear,” it said.

WHO said 99 percent of rabies in humans are caused by dog bites. Thorough washing of the wound with soap and vaccine can avoid symptoms and save lives, it said. 

“Vaccinating dogs saves human lives. Vaccinating 70 percent of dogs breaks rabies transmission cycle in an area at risk. Every dog owner is concerned,” WHO added.

Initial data reaching the DOH showed there are 162 individuals who died from rabies from Jan. 1 to Aug. 29 this year. The number is lower than the 268 cases reported to the agency during the same period in 2014.

Region 3 accounted for most of the cases at 23, Region 5 (20), Regions 1 and 4-A (19 each), Region 12 (15), Region 10 (12), Region 6 and Metro Manila (10 each), Region 11 (eight), Regions 2 and 7 (seven), Region 8 (3) and Regions 4B, Autonomous Regions in Muslim Mindanao and Caraga (two each).

Rabies-free

The Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) declared 10 towns in three provinces rabies-free.

These are Tingloy in Batangas, Agutaya and Balabac in Palawan and Basilisa, Cagdianao, Dinagat, Libjo, Loreto, San Jose, and Tubajon in Dinagat Islands.

Agriculture Assistant Secretary for Livestock Dave Catbagan said they are determined to meet the vaccination target of seven million dogs by next year, which is 70 percent of the local dog population, in compliance with the standard set by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

The dog population in the country is placed at 10 million, including strays.

Catbagan said nine million doses of rabies vaccine have arrived in country from the OIE vaccine bank since August. The delivery will be completed on the first week of 2016.

For this year, BAI has allocated P40 million for its rabies prevention and control programs. The DOH also provides a counterpart funding of P69 million.

“The 70 percent vaccination requirement would be done the whole of next year. We cannot store the vaccines for long. If there are doses coming in the first quarter of the year, we need to use the doses that arrived before December,” said Catbagan.

The government is also getting support through the donation of rabies vaccines. In March 2013, OIE turned over 500,000 doses of vaccines valued at 120,000 euros.

The OIE maintains a vaccine bank funded by the European Union under the regional cooperation program Highly Pathogenic and Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases in Asia (HPED). 

The program provides eligible countries in Asia with dog rabies vaccines to allow them to vaccinate dog populations under agreed national vaccination strategies.

In providing vaccines, the OIE prioritizes developing countries that may not have immediate access to high quality dog vaccines.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Livestock Jose Reano said the country is making progress in the elimination of rabies, but continuous public awareness on its dangers must be maintained.

The DOH and BAI reset the deadline to eliminate rabies in the country from 2020 to 2016.

Rabies, which is considered to be 99 percent fatal, kills 300 to 400 Filipinos every year, with dog bites accounting for 84 percent of human rabies cases. – With Czeriza Valencia