KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 – Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) Health and Environment Department director, Dr Hayati Abdullah said there were none of the dogs which attacked the victims were tested positive for the rabies virus in the 12 reported cases of dog bites so far on this year.
She said there were eight of the cases involved dogs which had owners while the rest involved stray dogs. The latest incident was happened on yesterday in Jalan Ipoh where a trader was bitten on his right ankle by a female stray dog. In an operation to catch stray dogs conducted by DBKL’s special unit Wednesday, it was observed that stray dogs were roaming the area in Jalan Ipoh.
Meanwhile, Dr Hayati said the fierce female dog and five other strays were caught and sent to DBKL’s animal pound during the operation. She said until date of this year, they have been received 452 public complaints on disturbances by stray dogs while 3,905 of the animal also have been caught.
On the possibility of the rabies outbreak in Perlis, Kedah and Penang spreading to Kuala Lumpur, she said it could happen if infected dogs from the affected areas were brought on here. She said she would like to urge owners to keep their dogs at home and to reduce their movement outside for the time being due to they can’t control the movement of people.
“In the same time, I also would like to urged the owners to give their dogs vaccination injections at the nearest veterinary clinic as a rabies prevention measure. The action to control of stray dogs was ongoing and so far, 3,545 dogs that were not claimed or adopted by anyone had been disposed of,” she said. The last rabies infection in a human recorded in this country was in 1999, and last infection in dogs in 2009. The World Health Organisation had declared Malaysia to be free from rabies in 2012.
