KUCHING: A total of 78 Sarawakians have been infected with rabies in the past seven years with almost half of them contracting infections from their own pet dogs.
Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian in revealing this, said 38 cases involved infections from bites by their pet dogs while 20 cases were due to bites from stray dogs and five other cases involved bites or scratches from pet cats.
He said out of the 78 cases, 73 victims succumbed to the disease, with two passing away after initially surviving.
“The highest number of deaths was recorded in 2023 with 20 deaths,” he said in his Facebook post recently.
Dr Sim said for 2024, about 300 to 400 animal bite cases are being recorded per week, mostly involving stray or pet cats.
He said that the Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) treatment for rabies now is only 99.9 percent effective compared to 100 percent previously.
“The estimated number of the dog population in Sarawak is about 250,000. As such, we need everyone to play their role, do their part in our war with rabies, otherwise, more Sarawakians will succumb to the disease,” he stressed.
He also said that last year, more than 37,000 rabies vaccinations were carried out, but only 7,000 dogs or cats received their second dose.
“Your dog or cat needs yearly vaccination. Last weekend, MBKS together with DVS offered 150 subsidised neutering of dogs, but only 35 dog owners took up the offer.
“The estimated number of the dog population in Sarawak is about 250,000. We need everyone to play their role, do their part in our war with rabies; otherwise, more Sarawakians will die of rabies,” he said.
Dr Sim said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set a target for a rabies-free world by 2030.
“Sarawak has six more years to achieve the target, as we don’t want the world to pinpoint Sarawak as the cause of failure by WHO to eliminate rabies,” he said.
