BALI AUTHORITIES STRIVE HARD TO CONTAIN RABIES

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- The deaths of five local people from rabies in Bali
in the first two weeks of this year did not come as a surprise for the health
authorities of the resort island who have been striving hard to contain the
disease over the past three years.

The latest victim, I Ketut Sarga of Denpasar, died on Saturday, six months after
he had been bitten by a neighbour's dog.

Since rabies was detected in Bali in 2008, up to 118 local people have died,
many of them who lived in the hills.

"In fact, in January 2011 there has been a drop in the number of cases. Up to
the middle of January 2011, there have been about 40 cases of dog bites. In
December last year, between 150 and 185 cases were reported daily," said the
head of Bali's health services, Nyoman Sutedja, when contacted by Bernama.

However, the secretary of the Rabies Handling Team of the Sanglah General
Hospital in Denpasar, Dr IGB Ken Wirasandhi, said the large reference hospital
received about 30 dog bite patients every day.

On the whole, about 60 people in Bali report having been bitten by dogs daily,
he said.

Sutedja said that since the outbreak of rabies on the island, 60,000 cases of
dog bites had been reported.

This does not come as a surprise considering that of the estimated 600,000 dogs
on the island, 80 per cent are strays, and the people have a fondness for dogs.

The battle to contain the disease has been made more difficult by the perception
of some people that they would not contract rabies from the bites of dogs owned
by them or their neighbours, Dr Ken said, adding that as such they did not seek
treatment until it was too late.

He also said that some of the people believed that rabies was spread only by
unclean strays and wounded dogs.

Sutedja said the health authorities had provided special training to workers on
the treatment of dog bites and advised the people on preventive measures through
the assistance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

They had also opened rabies centres at every community health centre in each
mukim to reach the people in the interior hilly areas living far from hospitals,
he said.

The people were also given anti-rabies vaccination, he added.

"Now Bali has laws to destroy rabid dogs and penalise dog owners who allow their
pets to stray. Since 2008, some 273,000 dogs had been put to sleep, an act still
condemned by several NGOs associated with animal lovers," he said.

Sutedja said people in tourist areas had greater awareness of the situation and
took better care of their dogs.

He expressed confidence that rabies in Bali would be wiped out in 2012, now that
several community groups were helping to inform the people of preventive
measures and ways to fight the disease.
-- BERNAMA