Bali Declared a Rabies Infected Area

(9/12/2009)

Beritabali.com reports that Bali has been declared as a rabies contaminated region (Daerah Tertular). This declaration follows the growing number of outbreak of the disease in Badung, Denpasar and Tabanan. The remaining 6 regencies of the island have been designated potential areas (Daerah Rawan) for the spread of rabies.

The Head of the Livestock Department for Bali, Ida Bagus Alit, told the press of Wednesday, September 9, 2009, that the decision to declare Tabanan as rabies contaminated took place after confirming rabies cases among dogs in that region. Previously confirmed cases of rabies were limited to the Badung regency and the City of Denpasar. In those two regions of the island the government responded with systematic culling of stray dogs and the vaccination of pet populations.

Alit told the press: "We have already dropped 5,000 dosages for 5,000 dogs. Using a scale of priorities focusing on contaminated areas first, we can now work on other regions of the island."

Alit said he had submitted another request to the Central Government for an additional 400,000 dosages, the number of dogs estimated to populate the entire island.

Government Allocates Money for Rabies Vaccines

Meanwhile, the provincial government of Bali has allocated around Rp. 1 billion (US$100,000) to purchases rabies vaccine for the people of Bali who are bitten or scratched by a potentially infected animal.

The Head of the Bali Health Service, Dr. Nyoman Sutedja, told Beritabali.com that he hope the Rp. 1 billion remained sufficient to meet the needs of people seeking anti-rabies treatment.

Since the recent outbreak of the disease in Bali there have been 5 deaths confirmed as resulting from rabies and a number of deaths in which laboratory confirmation was not performed, but in which rabies is suspected to have been the cause of death.