KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 – Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam clarified on Tuesday that currently there were no confirmed cases of humans contracting rabies in the three affected northern states as Perlis, Kedah and Penang. Dr Subramaniam said there were 12 people who have been bitten by dogs have been found that they have carried the disease. He said while he was in correcting several misreported facts on the media.
He hold a press conference at the Health Ministry headquarters here on Tuesday said that there is currently no normal blood test to see whether a person has rabies. You can only confirm a case after the carrier has died, otherwise we have to see the symptoms. According to several health-related websites the symptoms of rabies are included insomnia, anxiety, confusion, partial paralysis, excessive salivation, and problems on swallowing.
“The cases could only be confirmed after samples were taken from the brain matter of dogs that have been put down from the culling initiative by the Veterinary Department and other relevant agencies. Meanwhile, the 12 people who were bitten by the dogs was also given the vaccination as a preventative measure. The ministry would also be monitoring them to see whether they developed clinical symptoms of the disease,” said Dr Subramaniam.
“So far, there were none of any signs showed of the disease. In the same time, we are also following World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols on how to treat the bites and see whether it was mere licking by the dog or whether they have broken into the skin,” he said while also adding that the ministry had enough vaccines for humans.
Dr Subramaniam said WHO had declared Malaysia a rabies-free country in 2012 as the last known case of a dog contracting the disease was in 2009, while the last case of humans being affected was in 1999. He said until Tuesday, there were 73 cases of dog bites while 12 were bitten from the dogs that carriers of the rabies.
