Good Friday flagellant dies of rabies

MABALACAT, Pampanga – A Good Friday flagellant in Barangay Aguso here died of rabies last April 11, but he could have contaminate 98 others, including other flagellants and his wife and two children, who now have to be given anti-rabies and other vaccines for 90 days.

Mayor Marino Morales told The Star yesterday that Eduardo Sese of Aguso town was confirmed to have died of rabies at the Tiglao Hospital here.

He said Sese participated in the self-flagellation tradition in his barangay on Good Friday, together with scores of other residents who shared the same blade in incising shallow cuts on their backs to allow the free flow of blood during flagellation.

"After the flagellation, he and other flagellants shared the same glass in a drinking bout," he noted.

Municipal health officer Dr. Ma. Clara Aquino said the common blade and the common glass could possibly have transmitted the rabies virus to other people, including other flagellants.

"The confirmation of rabies as the cause of Sese’s death has prompted health authorities to trace those who might have been "exposed" to the rabies virus, and we were able to track down 98 persons, including Sese’s wife and two children," Morales said.

Aquino said that Sese’s friends said that he was bitten by a dog sometime in October last year and again last February, but he never had himself examined by a doctor. Rabies often result from dog bites.

The incubation period for rabies can be as long as five years, although 95 percent of those infected develop the disease within one year. Once a patient starts to show symptoms the victim usually dies within 10 days.