ILOILO – Three islands – Malangabang, Baligian and Sombrero – in the municipality of Concepcion would be declared rabies-free zones tomorrow, World Rabies Day.
The declaration would be held in Metro Manila by the National Rabies Consultative Committee made up of the Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, Department of Interior and Local Government, and Department of Education.
According to Dr. Darel Tabuada of the Provincial Veterinary Office, the three islands met the following criteria:
* no human or animal rabies cases for the past two years
* active implementation of national and local rules and regulations on rabies
* wide coverage of animal vaccination against rabies
Tabuada said the three islands have a combined dog population of over 1,000.
In 2015 three Concepcion islands were declared rabies-free zones. These were Tambaliza, Macatunao and Talotu-an. They have maintained their status, said Tabuada.
Rabies is a highly fatal viral disease that primarily affects warm-blooded animals other than man, notably dogs, cats, rats, and bats, but which can be transmitted to humans by infected animals.
The rabies virus, which is present in the saliva of an infected animal, is passed to a human through a bite, or rarely, when the animal’s saliva gets in contact with a scratch or fresh break in the skin.
The Philippines is among the top 10 countries with the highest incidence of rabies in the world, according to the Department of Health (DOH). Officials estimate that about 100,000 Filipinos are treated for dog bites and 200 to 300 die from rabies annually.
The rabies virus primarily affects the central nervous system. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to those of many other infection — fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort.
As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, salivation, difficulty in swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water).
There is no cure for rabies. In humans, once the clinical signs and symptoms of the disease have appeared, which takes two to eight weeks — sometimes longer — from the time of the animal bite, death invariably occurs within seven to 10 days.
Dogs account for 98 percent of rabies infection, cats account for the remaining two percent, according to DOH.
An infected dog can transmit the rabies virus even before it becomes ill, but it will invariably manifest signs and symptoms of rabies including change in behavior such as unprovoked aggressiveness and excitability, paralysis, and hydrophobia within five days, and die within two weeks, after it gets infected./PN
