Bangkok pet owners warned of rabies danger

[webfact]

Bangkok pet owners warned of rabies danger
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration yesterday warned that 40 per cent of domesticated dogs in the capital city were at a greater risk of rabies, according to a survey. As a result, people should take their pet dogs to get the annual rabies vaccination at BMA veterinarian clinics or mobile units in various communities.

The city's latest survey reported there were 600,000 pet dogs and more than 100,000 stray dogs on the streets, BMA deputy city clerk Peerapong Saicheu said.

Warning that rabies could be found all year around, he said the city aimed to be rabies-free under the World Health Organisation's goal to eradicate the disease by 2020. People should take their dogs and cats to get vaccinated, he said.

Peerapong's comment was made during his visit to the city's animal-control centre yesterday, which currently houses 800 stray dogs and cats. The centre plans to relocate animals twice a month to another facility in Uthai Thani province, which currently houses 5,500 animals and could support up to 8,000.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Bangkok-pet-owners-warned-of-rabies-danger-30258549.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-23

[noitom]

40% of Thai dogs have rabies! And this is for sure a conservative figure made up by Thais. As is the 100,000 street dog number. Everyone knows that there are more than that. Are Thais counting the small groups of dogs maintained by every Thai farmer that just run wild and breed on the land and hang around one shack more than others?

[umbanda]

After I got a small bite from a soi dog when traveling out my town, and I had to get all the rabies shot and pay 20000thb at a Government hospital, I found out that many foreign travel agencies advice its clients to get a 2 shots preventive rabies shots to people traveling in Asia.

Taking the risk of not getting the 8 shots after any soi dog bite, is a life or dead decision.

India is the #1 country in rabies infections, and Thailand is #2, but pet sterilization and rabies vaccination still not mandatory in Thailand.

[bubba]

Here is a good read:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2244672/

According to this document, 10% of the stray dogs in Bangkok are rabid. Considering that your chance of dying is close to 100% if you are infected with rabies, that is something to think about.

I had an unprovoked bite by a soi dog in Bangkok about ten years ago. I saw an infectious diseased doc at Bumrungrad the next day whose opinion it was that unprovoked bites from soi dogs in Bangkok are suspicious and he recommended (1) immediate injection of human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG) into the bite area and (2) a course of several rabies vaccination injections. The latter are into your arms and I think that required 3 - 4 injections spaces out over several weeks. Since antibodies take a while to spool up after the vaccinations, HRIG is given immediately to provide you with rabies antibodies. The HRIG was the expensive part, costing around 12,000 baht at the time. This is very important as if the rabies virus makes it to your nervous system before your own antibodies build up, it is too late. My doc advised that you must have the HRIG injection no later than 48 hours after the bite for it to be efficacious, so time is of the essence.

I now keep my rabies vaccination up to date with an annual booster injection.

[NickJ]

I watched a documentary about rabies. It was titled , The Girl Who Survived Rabies....It was nasty. Anybody who gets bit by a soi dog is crazy not to get the shots. There have been only two cases in modern history of people surviving.

[whybother]

If you vaccinate your pet, it will get autism.

[quandow]

PM Cha-cha needs to get all Article 44 on these soi dogs. They are a menace to every man, woman and child in Thailand and ANOTHER reason to move to a country that doesn't have these problems. They're called CIVILIZED countries.

[maidee]

and still for some crap fake buddist reasons, they still prefer people getting bittin from rabies dogs

than to round them all up for one final dirt nap

or better, for a quick snack in vietnam or north of thailand people

[RandomLurker]

other day was walking along the footpath. in the street also walking was a line of say 10 young saffron clad youths with a dog also walking with them. walked in tandem in this fashion for about 50 meters. i was now a little ahead of the line and dog and i crossed the street in front of the saffron line.

they set the dog on me at this point and i turned to face the dog and they called it off. i continue. they set the dog again. three times in total.

this sort of behaviour one expects of mafia gangs.

Edited April 23, 2015 by RandomLurker

[wabothai]

Talk of shots........get rid of the damn dogs.

[wabothai]

I am not talking about pets. I am talking about the half wild ugly stinking, dirty, skin desease, dogs.

The ones you find in the markets and sleep on top of food.

[Ducking and]

40% of Thai dogs have rabies! And this is for sure a conservative figure made up by Thais.

Noitom's post is a misquote, it is misleading, and perhaps, by the sound of the rest of his post, fear-mongering. The article he is referring to says that IN BANGKOK 40% of DOMESTICATED dogs have a GREATER RISK of rabies. Three things that Noitom appears to have ignored. The post should be deleted. Unfortunately, the article does not say what these dogs' risk is greater than. Greater than the risk borne by soi dogs? For example, because rabid dogs are more likely to bite domesticated dogs? No science behind that, only intuition. Anyway, it certainly does NOT say that 40% of Thai dogs have rabies.

The soi dogs in Thailand are a disgrace and a menace. They should be removed and destroyed. As also all dogs that stray. Thailand is a dangerous place, but there are things that the authorities can do about the risk from this deadly disease. Dogs here are not sweet little things. They are potential killers. Especially of children. That anyone in their right mind would introduce a dog into a household with young children totally amazes me. Are the facts being hidden from the population?

And surely the authorities can make up some comforting statistics for the benefit of their tourist industry showing how few rabid bites occur yearly. It would be interesting to know the annual total of the courses of anti-rabies injections and the annual total of deaths from rabies, but I guess such figures would never be reported accurately. The totals the Thais would admit to might be interesting too.

[bubba]

This statement is absurd:

Warning that rabies could be found all year around, he said the city aimed to be rabies-free under the World Health Organisation's goal to eradicate the disease by 2020. People should take their dogs and cats to get vaccinated, he said.

So within 5.5 years, in order to be rabies free, "people should take their dogs and cats to get vaccinated"? What about the hundreds of thousands of stray dogs and cats, not to mention the untold millions of rats that could carry rabies?

[SOTIRIOS]

...why do you have to pay for the rabies shots.....

...and the prices....20,000......

...so what do Thais do.....

[FredNL]

Just let some Vietnamese come in to export those filthy soi dogs to Vietnam.

Or sell them to the Vietnamese. The revenue can be used for protection. Problem solved.

(revenue will probably disappear in some general's pocket)

[Lumbini]

Rabies has always been seen as something of an enigma in the healthcare world. An uncommon disease, rabies has all but disappeared in developed worlds. However, its capacity to quickly and mercilessly kill its victims - even those treated with modern medicines - has made it seen as the deadliest disease in the known world. Now new data has revealed that it's not nearly as uncommon as thought, killing a stunning 160 people every single day.

[bubba]

...why do you have to pay for the rabies shots.....

...and the prices....20,000......

...so what do Thais do.....

I asked the same question after I was bitten. According to my doc, low-income Thais pay 1000 baht for the treatment I had. Post-exposure rabies vacs are free, and the HRIG costs 1000 baht.