ILOILO City – Two mad dogs attacked eight persons in Barangay Poblacion, New Lucena, Iloilo.
According to Mayor Christian Sorongon, it started with just one mad mongrel.
On June 9 the mongrel attacked a group of dogs then turned its attention to four persons.
On June 11, these four persons sought financial help from the mayor’s office. They had themselves vaccinated against rabies at the Iloilo Provincial Hospital.
Rabies is a human infection that occurs after a transdermal bite or scratch by an infected animal, like dogs and cats. It can be transmitted when infectious material, usually saliva, comes into direct contact with a victim’s fresh skin lesions.
Two days after, four more individuals asked assistance from Sorongon; they, too, were bitten by a dog.
Sorongon said the dog that bit the second set people was one of the dogs that the mongrel attacked on June 9.
All the eight persons were referred to the Western Visayas Medical Center in Mandurriao, Iloilo City so they could complete the needed anti-rabies shots.
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, according to the Department of Health (DOH).
Rabies is considered to be a neglected disease. Though it is “100 percent” preventable, it is also “100 percent” fatal, said DOH.
It is not among the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the country but it is regarded as a significant public health problem because it is one of the most acutely fatal infection and it is responsible for the death of 200 to 300 Filipinos annually, DOH added.
Concerned New Lucena citizens, meanwhile, caught and killed the two mad dogs, then turned them over to the Municipal Agriculture Office for analysis.
Sorongon urged the owners of the other dogs that the first mad dog attacked on June 9 to secure them.
The Municipal Agriculture Office’s initial findings showed the first mad dog to have rabies, he said.
Sorongon urged his constituents with dogs to have them vaccinated against rabies.
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).
Among Filipinos, dogs account for 98 percent of rabies infection, cats account for the remaining two percent, according to the DOH./PN
