Ministry reassures public that rabies situation ‘under control’ – as two more die from disease

[David Walden]

4 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

Only after you've been bitten, and you need the expensive immunoglobulin and the full course of injections, plus tetanus. Pre vaccination requires only three jabs, very cheap. 

We have lots of snakes in Australia sometimes near my backyard, if you get bitten and do not get anti venom injections you will die.  The injections are available and ready for instant uses in almost every hospital in Australia big or small, also other medical services may keep some ( private practice and vets).  If you have the anti venom without being bitten it will almost certainly die from this also, you have to be certain you have been bitten (by a snake) and which type is better.  The cost is very high to provide this protection as there maybe 10,000 doses over 1000 hospital kept under special conditions throughout the country and maybe only 1 dose is used each week across the whole country to save someone.  I believe they cost more then $1000 each ( maybe $2000) for each dose.  The major cost is in the availability and storage of this anti venom.  I don't know the limit of the shelf life of anti venom but I believe they have to be replaced from time to time?    Does Thailand have a similar service for rabies infections which are mostly caused by wild dogs...yes in downtown Hue Hin and Cha-am and all over Thailand wild dog by the thousands and thousands.  Some have rabies.

 

People who are bitten by snakes and cannot get quick treatment often die within the hour.  It takes a bit longer to die from rabies but if you get bitten by a rabies infected dog there is a good chance you will have a slow death, it just takes a bit longer ( that's better of course?)...I've been on my band wagon with subject and on other sites as well as Thavisa for some time now.  It's time to do something about wild dogs in Thailand...yes now.  Yes mostly for the Thai peoples sake.

Edited March 17, 2018 by David Walden

[KKr]

18 minutes ago, Scooby and Puppy said:

 <The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry insisted the situation was not serious>

 

I would say the 6 that have died this year wouldn’t agree with that. 

If animal lovers are so against culling soi dogs, can you come and form a barrier between me and my family, and the wild rabid animals that can actually kill us... are you happy with that? When out riding my bike, I feel like I am in a  <deleted> zombie movie..you don’t know which zombie is coming at you next.. cull them, it’s a no- brainer.

I noticed that my Thai friends usually bring, or pick up, a stick when we go out for a walk out of the gate.

[Scooby and Puppy]

1 minute ago, KKr said:

I noticed that my Thai friends usually bring, or pick up, a stick when we go out for a walk out of the gate.

My Aussie mate does that as well..

but do the math, one stick - 5 rabid snarling soi dogs..?

  I have said before, why do animal lovers want to ‘save’ dangerous soi dogs, they can be as cute as they like, but if they contract rabies, they will kill you.. some innocent old man, or young boy died this week... how much warning do we need.

[David Walden]

3 minutes ago, KKr said:

I noticed that my Thai friends usually bring, or pick up, a stick when we go out for a walk out of the gate.

I love dogs but on my 8 km walk each morning along Cha-am beach I am well noted and laughed at by the locals (good fun) as I always have a nice piece of bamboo  and 2 or 3 nice size rocks to chase away a few dogs who would just like to bite me , given the chance. ( perhaps I taste good?)  Not many people walk 8 km along Cha-am beach each morning because of these  many of wild dogs.  I have had to rescue quite a few tourists often with my stick.  You don't see them again,  I'm now an expert on wild dogs on Cha-am Beach...Tourists, they just can't believe it.

[Scooby and Puppy]

31 minutes ago, David Walden said:

I love dogs but on my 8 km walk each morning along Cha-am beach I am well noted and laughed at by the locals (good fun) as I always have a nice piece of bamboo  and 2 or 3 nice size rocks to chase away a few dogs who would just like to bite me , given the chance. ( perhaps I taste good?)  Not many people walk 8 km along Cha-am beach each morning because of these  many of wild dogs.  I have had to rescue quite a few tourists often with my stick.  You don't see them again,  I'm now an expert on wild dogs on Cha-am Beach...Tourists, they just can't believe it.

I like domestic dogs, that only go out with their human. In fact, my wife often says i am too friendly with dogs, and to not pet them, even in a friends garden.

But soi dogs are are different ‘animal’... I hate the way they ruin my bike rides, sometimes I have feared for my life.. We don’t attack, snarl, or bite them, so something has to be done now that rabies is rampant. I have taken steps to protect me and mine.. I would like to hear what the soi dog lovers would say or do if surrounded by rabid animals. If they want them protected, then take them into their yard. I love being alive, I want to keep it that way as long as possible.

[Wilsonandson]

Just got my pre-exposure rabies vaccination at my local hospital.

Cost 1,100 baht for my first jab and I will go back in a week for my second and 3 weeks after for my third and final jab. Total cost of 3,300 baht.

The doctor spoke good English and said if you are bitten, immediately wash the bite wound with soap and water for a full 15 minutes. If the dog was rabid, that would nearly eliminate your chances of infection. Then go immediately to a hospital and get a rabies jab. With the pre-exposure vacination you have a 24 hour to get a rabies jab.

You only need one extra jab if you have had the pre-exposure vacination.

[David Walden]

1 hour ago, Wilsonandson said:

Just got my pre-exposure rabies vaccination at my local hospital.

Cost 1,100 baht for my first jab and I will go back in a week for my second and 3 weeks after for my third and final jab. Total cost of 3,300 baht.

The doctor spoke good English and said if you are bitten, immediately wash the bite wound with soap and water for a full 15 minutes. If the dog was rabid, that would nearly eliminate your chances of infection. Then go immediately to a hospital and get a rabies jab. With the pre-exposure vacination you have a 24 hour to get a rabies jab.

You only need one extra jab if you have had the pre-exposure vacination.

Yes that's good but what about the other 65,000,000 yes 65 million Thai people and tourists that don't have protection against rabies.  A friend of mine from Perth Aus. recently got bitten in Cha-am when out walking .  He attended the Cha-am hospital for treatment, the injections cost Bht 5,000.  I only spoke to him after his 5th injection and he said he still needed another.  He was there on a 60 day  tourist visa.  Great way to encourage new tourists to Thailand.  The only solution to this problem is to get rid of all the stray dogs....but TIT

Edited March 17, 2018 by David Walden

[lamyai3]

2 hours ago, David Walden said:

We have lots of snakes in Australia sometimes near my backyard, if you get bitten and do not get anti venom injections you will die.

Not sure why you're talking about snakes and Australia. We are talking about the cost of rabies vaccination in Thailand, snakes are not on the list of animals that would spread it. If you get rabies vaccine at a government hospital here it's very cheap indeed, in the region of 300 baht per injection for the standard Verorab or Rabipur. These medicines stopped being under licence many years ago, hence the worldwide availability of cheap generics.

 

If you do get bitten on the other hand, you need immediate shots of tetanus and the rabies jab, both in the price range I mentioned at a government hospital or the Red Cross. Unfortunately, post-bite you also need immunoglobulin of which there's a world shortage. I went through this last year, the rabies and tetanus were no more than 300 baht per shot, the single dose immunoglobulin was 4500 baht. However if you get immunised in advance, the immunoglobulin is not required in the event of a bite, just a further two or three booster shots of the rabies vaccine. It's worth mentioning that in most parts of the world people don't get the immunoglobulin shot after being bitten due to the high cost and low availability in rural areas. 

[David Walden]

1 minute ago, lamyai3 said:

Not sure why you're talking about snakes and Australia. We are talking about the cost of rabies vaccination in Thailand, snakes are not on the list of animals that would spread it. If you get rabies vaccine at a government hospital here it's very cheap indeed, in the region of 300 baht per injection for the standard Verorab or Rabipur. These medicines stopped being under licence many years ago, hence the worldwide availability of cheap generics.

 

If you do get bitten on the other hand, you need immediate shots of tetanus and the rabies jab, both in the price range I mentioned at a government hospital or the Red Cross. Unfortunately, post-bite you also need immunoglobulin of which there's a world shortage. I went through this last year, the rabies and tetanus were no more than 300 baht per shot, the single dose immunoglobulin was 4500 baht. However if you get immunised in advance, the immunoglobulin is not required in the event of a bite, just a further two or three booster shots of the rabies vaccine. It's worth mentioning that in most parts of the world people don't get the immunoglobulin shot after being bitten due to the high cost and low availability in rural areas. 

My point is/was to show how big an effort it takes to protect 65 million people of this rabies problem.  The snake and rabies post I wrote was to show how big an effort is required to protect all the population, not just tourists.  Clearly just getting the message across about this subject is a major problem in itself, doing away with rabies infected dogs is a good idea.  Even Blind, Deaf and Dumb Freddy knows what I'm talking about....

[lamyai3]

4 minutes ago, David Walden said:

My point is/was to show how big an effort it takes to protect 65 million people of this rabies problem.  The snake and rabies post I wrote was to show how big an effort is required to protect all the population, not just tourists.  Clearly just getting the message across about this subject is a major problem in itself, doing away with rabies infected dogs is a good idea.  Even Blind, Deaf and Dumb Freddy knows what I'm talking about....

I agree with you, it's a massive task.  However I was responding to your statement that rabies immunisation costs an arm and a leg, which you're completely wrong about. I directly quoted you on this in my response to you previously - your reply was to go off on a tangent and quote the cost of anti venom snake bites in Australia. Hence I've replied further to explain the cost of the anti-rabies vaccination here, which is very cheap indeed. 

[geriatrickid]

3 hours ago, Scooby and Puppy said:

My Aussie mate does that as well..

but do the math, one stick - 5 rabid snarling soi dogs..?

  I have said before, why do animal lovers want to ‘save’ dangerous soi dogs, they can be as cute as they like, but if they contract rabies, they will kill you.. some innocent old man, or young boy died this week... how much warning do we need.

 

Sound like you are living in fear.  The risk is minimal. You are more likely to  die from a fall, or food poisoning or a car crash. Worry about that.

 

[Wilsonandson]

7 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 

Sound like you are living in fear.  The risk is minimal. You are more likely to  die from a fall, or food poisoning or a car crash. Worry about that.

 

Yes, but you can protect yourself right now against rabies by going to you local hospital and getting a pre-exposure rabies jab.

 

As for falling, food poisoning and car crashes you can't prepare protection against.

[David Walden]

3 hours ago, lamyai3 said:

I agree with you, it's a massive task.  However I was responding to your statement that rabies immunisation costs an arm and a leg, which you're completely wrong about. I directly quoted you on this in my response to you previously - your reply was to go off on a tangent and quote the cost of anti venom snake bites in Australia. Hence I've replied further to explain the cost of the anti-rabies vaccination here, which is very cheap indeed. 

Good doggy, I can see what you look like from your avatar...thank you

[David Walden]

2 hours ago, David Walden said:

Good doggy, I can see what you look like from your avatar...thank you

For those who would like to know about rabies you can look at this  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies  

[David Walden]

7 hours ago, Wilsonandson said:

Yes, but you can protect yourself right now against rabies by going to you local hospital and getting a pre-exposure rabies jab.

 

As for falling, food poisoning and car crashes you can't prepare protection against.

 

 

8 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

 

Sound like you are living in fear.  The risk is minimal. You are more likely to  die from a fall, or food poisoning or a car crash. Worry about that.

 

The risk is minimal  "yes" but only for those people will not go for 8 km walks along Cha-am beach in the morning for fear of being attacked and bitten by rabies infected dogs.  Once bitten by rabies infected dogs and you get the bug  your chances of  survival is about 8%.  It used to be 100%...very deadly. 

[Wilsonandson]

A buffalo in Buri Ram has been buried in a deep hole dug out by a backhoe with lime and antiseptic poured on top. Again, from what I can gather from the Thai media is that the buffalo was bitten mid February by a dog and had not been eating grass and was behaved agressively. It died 2 days ago after 48 hours of whining in pain the owner said.

 

Livestock officials were alerted after the death of the buffalo and decided to bury the animal as a precaution.

 

Please note this is only what I can deduce from reading Thai news reports. I may be wrong.

Edited March 17, 2018 by Wilsonandson

[DavisH]

On 16/03/2018 at 8:05 AM, Colabamumbai said:

How many deaths are acceptable?

70 or more, judging by the daily death rate on Thai roads.

[humbug]

a few human deaths means actually very little when so many humans die in Thailand every second. 

 

 

 

 

[connda]

“The Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry is firmly committed to eradicating rabies from Thailand within the next two years

That would require that the village start up it's rabies vaccination program, but they say they have no money to do that.  What's missing from this picture?

[neeray]

37 minutes ago, humbug said:

a few human deaths means actually very little when so many humans die in Thailand every second. 

 

 

 

 

That is a totally ridiculous statement. Any deaths that can be avoided is a plus, a step forward.

Using your rationale, why not just nuke all of civilization? Dah

[lamyai3]

1 hour ago, DavisH said:

70 or more, judging by the daily death rate on Thai roads.

They should be able to solve the rabies problem in the same way, with the a crackdown during songkran. 

[David Walden]

10 hours ago, neeray said:

That is a totally ridiculous statement. Any deaths that can be avoided is a plus, a step forward.

Using your rationale, why not just nuke all of civilization? Dah

We currently have advertisements running on SBS TV in Australia by charity organisations seeking fund to change the figures that claim there are 15,000 children who die world wide of mainly hunger or medical problems each day..."yes each day"... if you believe this, this must also be an acceptable figure, because that's what the figures are.  Thailand perhaps has some problems and I do love Thailand.  I do complain from time to time but maybe I shouldn't, perhaps Thais are doing their best. I'm very glad I'm an Aussie.   Only 2 dead from rabies and 400+ dead and perhaps 1000 injured from traffic accident last week in Thailand.  On the scale of thing "not so bad"...and remember 7 times 15,000 children dying each day world wide adds up to 105,000 per week.  We all should try to make things better???   many people think praying will do the trick  "I've got some news for them"??

Edited March 18, 2018 by David Walden

[poohy]

Teams of people vaccinating all dogs (stay and owned)where i live south of PKK seems its being taken seriously here

[Wilsonandson]

Thailand has declared war on rabies this weekend. Keep up the good work. But those areas with rabid dogs should have stray dogs culled as a secondary measure to stop the outbreak.

 

 

[jak2002003]

22 hours ago, David Walden said:

It takes about 6 injections to get the job done propper and costs an arm and a leg.

Very cheap if you go to a normal government hospital and not some fancy private one.

 

I paid about 450 baht for an injection and antibiotic tablets this time.

 

Next time will be cheaper as not need any more antibiotics.  

 

This was the same kind of price I paid when I had the entire course after a bit (because I had never been vaccinated before).  

[Wilsonandson]

I've been on Thairabies.net for quite a while going through all the reports of rabies through out Thailand.

Here's what I found for me living in Pathum Thani and for Bangkok.

 

Pathum Thani

18/3/18

Sai Mai

11/3/18

Bang Khen

9/3/18

Don Mueung

7/3/18

Pathum Thani

15/1/18

Pathum Thani

25/12/17

Pathum Thani

12/12/17

Pathum Thani

14/11/17

 

These are the reported cases of rabies near where I live.

Now for Bangkok and surrounding areas.

 

Nong Chok

16/3/18

Nonthaburi

16/3/18

Buengkum

16/3/18

Bang Kolaem

14/3/18

Nonthaburi

13/3/18

Wang Thonglang

26/2/18

Bang Na

12/12/17

Bang Na

11/12/17

 

None of these cases has been added to the official list of rabies cases. Some have been ticked as positive some crossed out and some awaiting results.

 

If you have google chrome on your computer you can look yourself.

http://www.thairabies.net/trn/Default_Main.aspx

[Wilsonandson]

In the past hour they are investigating a case in Bang Khun Thian District of Bangkok.

 

Report page on Thairabies.com.

[Keesters]

The only time it will be UNDER CONTROL is when you can walk down the public street and not see a stray dog or cat, unleashed pet or soi dog.

 

 

[Scooby and Puppy]

On 17/03/2018 at 12:51 PM, geriatrickid said:

 

Sound like you are living in fear.  The risk is minimal. You are more likely to  die from a fall, or food poisoning or a car crash. Worry about that.

 

Who are you to tell me what I should be worried about? Do you go riding in areas where there are packs of dogs known to be prevelent? 

And No, I am not living in fear, just living safely. So I cannot be worried about being bitten by a rabid dog, seeing as there are quite a few dogs where I go biking, just because YOU think it’s a minimal risk?  As the danger of rabies has been brought to our attention, it’s obvious anyone would be worried about it on their bike in the ‘jungle’ being chased by a pack of dogs.

No worries about the ‘risk being minimal’ for you behind your keyboard, eh?  

‘The risk is only minimal if you aren’t in the firing line. If the dogs ARE actually rabid, which there are some in the Korat area, I would be stupid to not action to not get bitten. You, on the other hand, wouldn’t be bothered if you get bitten or not, by the seems of it. 

I will take precautions, thank you very much.