KUCHING: The setting up of public health laboratory is crucial to cope with any forms of epidemic in the State including rabies.
This was said by Assistant Minister for Housing and Public Health Dr Annuar Rapaee (pic) in response to a question by Batu Lintang State Assemblyman See Chee How on the latest number of rabies epidemic in Sarawak during State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting here yesterday.
He added that the public health lab is needed to diagnose and confirm of the diseases and that they were now setting up the lab and should be operational in a few months time.
“In the meantime, we send the dogs’ blood for confirmation to Ipoh and with the setting up of the lab soon, we do not have to send it to Ipoh in the future as we can do it here.
“In order to confirm this disease, a Polymerase Chain Reaction need to be sent to IMR which includes CSS, the liquid in the brain or spinal cord and the blood, your skin and urine, and we will get the result in one day although it is very costly to send these specimens to Kuala Lumpur.
“The specimens can be collected at every hospitals here before sending it to Kuala Lumpur,” he explained.
He added that although UNIMAS has the capacity to diagnose and confirm the disease, the university’s lab has yet to be recognised.
“We are working with the Ministry of Health to recognise UNIMAS as a centre which is able to justify or confirm the rabies,” he said.
Earlier on, he said that as of July 4, 2018, 33 localities in the State have been declared as rabies-infected areas based on the positive rabies cases detected by the Department of Veterinary Services.
“The five infected divisions are Serian, Kuching, Sri Aman, Kota Samarahan and Sarikei, with Serian being the largest infected area,” added Rapaee.
He emphasised that the setting up of Epidemiology unit was not crucial at the moment.
“Epidemiology means a bunch of medicine which deals with the incidents, distribution and probably the prevention of the disease. It has got nothing to do with diagnosis and treatment of the disease and we do have the unit at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH).
“In order for us to fight rabies, it is not solely dependent on the medical field. We need to have multi-disciplinary department for us to fight the disease,” he said, adding that one was the veterinary which was important for the vaccination of dogs because doctors in the medical field would not be able to give injections to the dogs.
“Secondly, the medicine which treats patient should they get bitten by dogs infected with Lyssavirus that causes rabies.
“The third point is the local government which catches the stray dogs.
“All of this is in inclusive of human resources that must be proper or put in order,” he said.
Rapaee added that at the moment, doctors and clinics have been briefed on how to manage patients with dog bites and should they need to refer to the SGH for second opinions.
“For the vaccination of dogs, I do agree that the veterinary department would need more staff because they need to vaccinate at least 70 per cent of the dog population and we do not know how many dogs we have in the State due to the lack of proper records.
“Because of that and we do not have a strict law which enforces pet registration among the people. Therefore, these must be put together to fight the disease,” he stressed.
Rapaee added that the State has been declared as rabies infected area since July 1, 2017.
“The most important in treating rabies is not the treatment when you get infected, but when you have been critically diagnosed with the symptoms, it is already fatal that there is no treatment for it.
“What is more important is to get vaccinated to prevent the symptoms from appearing after a dog bite.
“Another important matter is public awareness. If you get bitten by dogs, you must go to the hospital to clean the wound and we will give the vaccination,” said the Assistant Minister for Housing and Public Health.
