EDITORIAL: Once bitten, twice shy

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EDITORIAL:

Once bitten, twice shy

By The Nation

 

Widespread ignorance about rabies is helping spread the disease, abetted by a flawed and restrictive law

 

The country’s sixth death caused by rabies this year was reported on Tuesday. The victim was a 14-year-old girl in northeastern Buri Ram province. Just as sadly, the latest victim’s mother blamed the girl’s untimely death on ignorance about rabies.

 

The mother said the teenager was bitten by a puppy late last month, but since her family “found no wound, but only some scratch”, there was little concern. The girl died last Saturday, and her death was confirmed by the Department of Disease Control as being due to rabies.

 

Earlier this year, five human deaths related to rabies were reported in Surin, Songkhla, Trang, Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachuap Khiri Khan. 

 

What many people find alarming is that, just three months into 2018, the disease has already killed six people. If the problem continues at this rate through the year, the number of rabies casualties could exceed those of recent years. There were 11 rabies-related human deaths last year and 14 in 2016.

 

Observers have blamed this year’s spread of rabies on substandard vaccines imported from Spain and a law that does not allow local administrative organisations to procure the vaccines. The Food and Drug Administration has recalled and destroyed three batches of imported rabies vaccines that were deemed substandard.

 

And this could have contributed to the ongoing outbreak. Since the beginning of this year, almost 400 cases of rabies infections in animals have been confirmed, covering most of the country but primarily in the Northeast and South.

 

Also, the Rabies Act allows only the Department of Livestock Development to procure vaccines for public use. Local administrators have blamed this legal restriction for the fact that they could not acquire sufficient vaccine for use this year.

 

Rabies can infect any mammal, not just pet dogs and cats. However, there is a widespread misunderstanding in Thailand that this is a disease carried only by dogs. Its name in Thai translates as “mad dog disease”. Although pet dogs and stray dogs tend to be the main carriers, rabies-related deaths in humans  have in the past also been attributed to contact with cats and cattle. At least one rabies-related death this year was caused by an infected cat’s scratch.

 

Sadly, many victims and their families ignore the scratches of dogs and cats. In some cases, such ignorance has led to unnecessary death.

 

Ignorance and misunderstanding about rabies increase the risk of fatalities – a circumstance that could be avoided if people were better educated about this disease.

 

Up to 60 per cent of the 11,369 people participating in a recent survey by the Public Health Ministry wrongly declared that rabies is curable. Thirty-four per cent of the respondents did not know that death is extremely likely if an infected animal bites a person – unless they have recently been vaccinated or are quickly vaccinated afterwards. Inaccurate knowledge about the virus has brought fatal results when people were bitten or scratched by rabid animals but did not receive the vaccine until it was too late.

 

The authorities should make sure that rabies vaccinations blanket any outbreak area. And maybe it’s time for us to consider curbing the number of strays, by sterilisation, to help cut down the risk of rabies epidemic in the future. Also, the relevant agencies need to increase their efforts to overcome all misunderstanding and ignorance related to rabies that could lead to more fatalities in the future.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30341454

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-22

[ukrules]

Don't worry about Rabies. If you get bit or even a little scratch from a dog, cat, monkey, etc you can get a set of expensive 'shots' and hope they're not fake.

 

[Samui Bodoh]

It is a terrible thing to say, but |I doubt that the authorities will really take it seriously until a tourist dies of Rabies and it makes the international media.

 

Hell of a thing to say, but...

[Lungstib]

Bitten by a dog in Peru 35 years ago I had the old style rabies shots, one a day for 2 weeks into a big muscle. In this country with thousands of apparently unowned dogs and cats leaving them alone is easy with that reminder of vaccination pain. Real 'twice shy'.

[Anak Nakal]

it responsible to give your pet the proper shots.

[Genmai]

2 hours ago, Anak Nakal said:

it responsible to give your pet the proper shots.

It is responsible for the government to provide vaccines that actually work

[marko kok prong]

One wonders if Thailand can get anything done right.

[saakura]

48 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

One wonders if Thailand can get anything done right.

These were substandard vaccines from Spain........

[connda]

10 hours ago, ukrules said:

Don't worry about Rabies. If you get bit or even a little scratch from a dog, cat, monkey, etc you can get a set of expensive 'shots' and hope they're not fake.

 

I've had them.  They are not expensive.  And unlike decades ago, they are now just a shot in the arm.  And the average Thai gets them for 30 THB.  So there is no reason not to get them if anyone has even been grazed by a potentially infected animal.  So at this point, it's more about education. 

[connda]

8 hours ago, Lungstib said:

Bitten by a dog in Peru 35 years ago I had the old style rabies shots, one a day for 2 weeks into a big muscle. In this country with thousands of apparently unowned dogs and cats leaving them alone is easy with that reminder of vaccination pain. Real 'twice shy'.

Now you get 5 shots in the arm.  Unless you have a phobia to shots, they're essentially painless.

[petermik]

There is not enough vaccines in the country to be able to control this disese.....thousands upon thousands of "stray" dogs here and no-one really cares until it starts to harm the "economy" culling of strays must be implemented....but it will never happen TIT......

[Henrik Andersen]

Come on Thailand start killing your dog's now and let domestic dog's vaccine and micro chips so dog owners can be prosecuted if any accidents in future