KUCHING: A 62-year-old man, infected with rabies, is in a critical condition at the isolation ward of the Sarawak General Hospital.
This latest rabies victim was bitten by a dog in the Pending area near his house. He was treated but failed to get better.
He was sent to the Sarawak General Hospital and placed in an isolation ward after his condition worsened.
Rabies has claimed 17 lives out of the 18 infections reported since the outbreak of the disease was declared in Sarawak in 2017. One nine-year-old victim, who is in coma, is being treated at home.
Rabies claimed the lives of two siblings in Serian in June, 2017. The disease, however, was not contained in Serian and later spread to 62 locations in 11 districts.
So far, only Limbang is rabies-free.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas declared the rabies outbreak as a level two disaster in January this year after the number of cases and infected areas continued to rise.
This was to facilitate more effective management of rabies cases, raise public awareness and prevent the moving of animals from infected areas to other places.
The tackling of the rabies problem was not without controversies. The culling and catching of dogs were frowned after it was alleged that the animals were shot in house compounds in April this year.
Uggah then called for the enforcement teams not to shoot dogs in house compounds with tranquilisers.
Besides dogs, stray cats were also removed to prevent the spread of rabies.
