Bicol accounts for most number of rabies cases

The Department of Health (DOH) said the Bicol region posted the highest number of rabies cases last year, as it reiterated its call for the public to observe responsible pet ownership.

In a report, the DOH said a total of 286 rabies cases were recorded in 2007, 41 of them in Bicol.

Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Cagayan Valley and Central Visayas had 40, 38, 23 and 22 cases, respectively.

“With regards to the provincial distribution of human rabies cases, Camarines Sur had the highest number of cases with 21, followed by Cagayan, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Bohol with 15, 12 and 10 cases each,” the report showed.

The DOH and the Department of Agriculture (DA) are hopeful that the anti-rabies campaign would be bolstered by the passage of Republic Act 9482 or the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007.

The law mandates that dogs must be vaccinated annually and registered with local government units.

It also prohibits owners from allowing their dogs to roam outside their house and requires them to shoulder the vaccination of those bitten by their dogs.

To minimize animal and human rabies, the DOH and DA are intensifying the campaign for dog vaccination.

Worldwide, some 55,000 individuals die from rabies. Majority of them are children and from the poorest segment of the population.

The DOH describes rabies as a “neglected disease that is 100-percent fatal but 100-percent preventable.”

“Effective and safe vaccines to prevent the disease in humans and animals have been available for decades. None of these deaths (could not) have occurred as we have all of the tools necessary to prevent rabies from infecting and killing both humans and animals,” the report said.

But elimination of rabies is being hampered by poverty and ignorance about the disease and its prevention.

In 2007, animal bite centers handled some 170,000 patients, 17 percent more than in 2006.