| Azaraimy HH |
THE public were yesterday urged to refrain from petting or feeding wild animals and avoid getting bitten, as a precaution against rabies following several cases reported in neighbouring countries.
“Parents should advice their children to avoid contact with wild animals,” Dr Ong Sok King, Medical Specialist, Public Health Services, Ministry of Health (MoH) told a press conference yesterday.
The public should seek immediate medical attention if bitten by an animal. Persons planning to travel to countries with reported cases of rabies should also seek advice from medical practitioners, she said.
The public can also contact Darussalam Line 123 for enquiries.
Dr Ong said rabies is a viral disease that can be transmitted to humans by contact with saliva from infected animals, commonly through broken skin and mucous membrane via bites or scratches.
Most rabies infection in Asia are transmitted through dog bites. However other mammals such as cats, monkeys and bats can also carry and transmit the rabies virus, she said.
The rabies virus can cause serious complications to the brain and nerves. The incubation period of rabies from being infected to onset of clinical symptoms is about one to three months on average.
Dr Ong Sok King, Medical Specialist, Public Health Services. – AZARAIMY HH
Symptoms of rabies include fever, headache, weakness, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation (increase in saliva), diffi-culty swallowing, and hydro-phobia (fear of water).
Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms in the absence of post exposure treatment.
In Brunei Darussalam, rabies in human is a notifiable disease under the Infectious Diseases Act (Chap 204). In line with the Asean Rabies Elimination Strategy (ARES) for eradication of rabies infec-tion in the region, the MoH has included surveillance of dog bites in humans. Hospital and clinics (government and private) are required to notify dog bites to the Disease Control Division (DCD), Public Health Services, MoH. Over the past 12 months, 25 cases of dog bites have been notified for risk assessment and surveillance.
No human cases of rabies have been reported in Brunei up to date.
The MoH works closely with the Ministry of Primary Resources and Tourism on information sharing of disease surveillance in human and animal point network in early warning and surveillance of diseases.
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