Subra: Only victims of dog bites in affected areas will be vaccinated

KUALA LUMPUR: Only people bitten by dogs in areas declared to be affected by rabies will be vaccinated, said Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam
The Health Minister said this was the Ministry's standard operating procedure and would be followed by its medical personnel.
"If someone was bitten but they are not in the locality declared as rabies infected, they will not be given the vaccine.This is based on scientific evidence and the SOPs in the management of these cases," he said at a press conference in the parliament yesterday.
Dr Subramaniam said there are 20 localities in Sarawak that had has been affected by the rabies outbreak.
He said the ministry had only used around 2,000 out of 8,000 vaccines in its stockpile for human since since the rabies outbreak.
He said 17,800 animals had been vaccinated since the rabies outbreak.
Dr Subramaniam said outbreak is severe and it could spread to high density locations like Kuching.
He chided the opposition particularly from Sarawak, for trying to exploit the situation politically and misrepresent facts about the rabies outbreak in the state.
"You don't use disease outbreak to gain political mileage. The system is responding and will respond, so don't create a panic, claiming the system has collapsed or won't respond," he said.
Meanwhile, a total of 83 dogs were culled while 127 dogs and 239 cats were vaccinated since a case of rabies was reported in Tepi Sungai, Kuala Sepetang on July 15.
Veterinary Services Department director general Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam said 16 samples were taken from the dogs to test for rabies at the Veterinary Research Institute here.
The operation and awareness campaign covers door-to-door checks and the department personnel had checked 2,956 pet owners.
Surveillance is being conducted within a 10km radius of the affected area which comprise 499 dogs and 1,399 cats involving 554 owners.
The sub district of Matang was declared as rabies infected area after a dog was tested positive for rabies.
The animal which belonged to a family had earlier bitten two girls in their house on July 4. The dog died nine days after the incident.