As many as 71 people in Vietnam have been killed by rabies so far this year, with ignorance about possible vaccinations blamed.
According to Do Quoc Trinh, a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Animal Health, the deaths were found in 28 cities and provinces. Vietnam witnessed 64 fatalities caused by rabies in 25 cities and provinces during the same period of last year.
The Ministry of Health reported that rabies has tended to be on the rise in many localities which were not the hot spots of the disease previously.
The majority of fatal cases were the result of people’s lack of vaccination as individuals often underestimate the risk when bitten by domestic dogs that appear healthy at the time of the bite. In many cases, children bitten by dogs failed to inform their family.
In the first nine months of this year, the Vietnam National Hospital of Paediatrics’ vaccination and consultation clinic administered anti-rabies serum to 271 individuals, with over 70 percent in Hanoi and nearly 68 percent involving children aged under 15.
During the phase, 326 individuals received rabies vaccinations with children under 15 accounting for the majority.
The number of rabies vaccine injections in between January and September this year grew by three times on-year.
The Vietnamese government is committed to achieving the 2030 goal of eliminating human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by renewing the National Programme on the Control and Elimination of Rabies 2022–2030.
Source: dtinews.vn