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Bali Rabies Cases Fall, Alert Status Dropped
Made Arya Kencana | January 23, 2012
Denpasar. Authorities in Bali have lifted a health alert placed on the island in 2008 as a result of a major rabies outbreak.
Head of Bali?s health agency, Nyoman Sutedja, said the decision was made to lift the alert because of the decline in the number of human rabies cases, both fatal and not-fatal.
?Rabies has now declined to an endemic level and there have been no deaths reported his year,? he said on Monday.
According to health officials on the island, 26 people died of rabies last year, a significant decline from the 83 fatalities the previous year.
While a major improvement, it is still a far cry from the four rabies death the year before the outbreak hit.
The number of dog bites reported to the authorities has also declined, but not to pre-epidemic levels. There were 50,628 bites in 2011, from 67,021 reported bites the previous year. In 2009, 21,806 bites were reported.
Sutedja acknowledged there was still a problem with ensuring that everyone who was bitten by a potentially rabid animal, usually a dog, received a vaccine. In 2011, of the 50,628 bites reported to health authorities, only 47,827 of the victims received the vaccine...
Bali Rabies Cases Fall, Alert Status Dropped
Made Arya Kencana | January 23, 2012
Denpasar. Authorities in Bali have lifted a health alert placed on the island in 2008 as a result of a major rabies outbreak.
Head of Bali?s health agency, Nyoman Sutedja, said the decision was made to lift the alert because of the decline in the number of human rabies cases, both fatal and not-fatal.
?Rabies has now declined to an endemic level and there have been no deaths reported his year,? he said on Monday.
According to health officials on the island, 26 people died of rabies last year, a significant decline from the 83 fatalities the previous year.
While a major improvement, it is still a far cry from the four rabies death the year before the outbreak hit.
The number of dog bites reported to the authorities has also declined, but not to pre-epidemic levels. There were 50,628 bites in 2011, from 67,021 reported bites the previous year. In 2009, 21,806 bites were reported.
Sutedja acknowledged there was still a problem with ensuring that everyone who was bitten by a potentially rabid animal, usually a dog, received a vaccine. In 2011, of the 50,628 bites reported to health authorities, only 47,827 of the victims received the vaccine...
