ILOILO City – The chief of the Iloilo provincial government’s veterinary office dared Mayor Jose Espinosa III to show proof that rabies cases in the city were caused by rabid dogs from Iloilo province and specifically from the adjacent town of Pavia.
Dr. Silvino Teodosio Jr. said he found Espinosa’s claim unbelievable because for one, the anti-rabies vaccination for dogs in Pavia was a high 84.5 percent.
Halfway through 2018, the City Veterinary Office (CVO) already recorded eight cases of animal bites and according to Espinosa, the most recent case (February) involved a rabid dog from Pavia.
“I beg to disagree. I will agree only if there is hard evidence,” said Teodosio.
Espinosa said he would bring the concern to the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic Development Council composed of this city and the municipalities of Pavia, Leganes, Oton, San Miguel, and Santa Barbara in Iloilo province.
“That’s baloney,” said Teodosio. “Tani sa Pavia mismo damo na cases sang rabies because of that one particular case kay malapta ina. Ti, kay waay.”
According to Teodosio, the city government appeared to be making excuses for failing to keep the metropolis rabies-free.
The city managed to keep itself free from rabies cases these past four years but not this year, according to Dr. Tomas Forteza Jr., city veterinarian.
Forteza said there was a clustering of rabies cases in Barangay Balabag, Pavia last year.
But according to Teodosio, from January to Aug. 1, 2018 Pavia had a high 84.5 percent anti-rabies vaccination coverage.
Pavia’s barangays that shared boundaries with the city had high animal anti-rabies vaccination coverage, too, he said. These villages were the following:
* Ungka I – 88.3 percent
* Ungka II – 77.4 percent
* Pagsangaan – 94.3 percent
From January to July this year, according to Forteza, the eight cases of animal bites (seven dog bites and one cat bite) in Iloilo City were recorded in the following: Lapuz district; barangays Tabucan and Guzman-Jesena in Mandurriao district; Iloilo Central Market in the City Proper; barangays Tacas, Quintin Salas and San Isidro in Jaro district; and in Barangay Cochero, Molo district.
Forteza said one rabies control measure could be “border vaccination” or vaccination of animals in the city’s barangays that shared borders with the identified Iloilo towns.
Iloilo City does not have “natural borders” so it is easy for stray dogs and cats to cross from the towns to the city, said Forteza./PN