IT is now compulsory for owners in Sarawak to inoculate their dogs against rabies.

Yesterday, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, who also chairs the State Disaster Management Committee, signed the anti-rabies vaccination order requiring all dogs, including in remote settlements, to be vaccinated.

“We’re stepping up the war against rabies,” Uggah said during a visit to a vaccination centre in the Batu Kawa township on the outskirt of Kuching this morning.

The disease broke out in July last year in the district of Serian, about 64km from Kuching, and has since killed five of the seven people reported to be rabies-infected.

Four of the deaths were of children aged between four and seven and the sole adult who died was a 52-year-old man.

They were all bitten by infected dogs.

“All dogs in Sarawak must be vaccinated,” he said as the rabies outbreak showed no sign of being contained.

Uggah said he has given instruction to the Department of Veterinary Services to dispatch vaccination teams to all parts of the state, from central Sarawak up to the border with Brunei and Sabah in the north.

The stops include the towns of Sibu, Miri, Bintulu, Kapit, Sarikei, Limbang, and Lawas.

“Even to remote longhouses, especially in areas along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.”

The outbreak has reached the small town of Julau, about 330km from Kuching. The district, which bears the same name, was declared an infected area on December 30.

The disaster management committee on January 27 disclosed a report of a seventh rabies victim, a 59-year-old man from Jalan Batu Kawa-Matang, an area declared rabies infected last Decembe.

He was reportedly bitten by a dog in his residential area on November 27 last year.

He had sought treatment at a private clinic on the day he was bitten but state authorities alleged that the clinic failed to comply with a health directive requiring private clinics to refer victims of dog bites to the nearest government hospital.

On January 24, the man was admitted into a private hospital for aching limbs and loss of strength. Upon spotting signs of hydrophobia in the man, who was seeing hallucinations and showing aggressive behaviour, the hospital referred the patient to Sarawak general hospital.

A subsequent test confirmed he had rabies.

Uggah said the state’s target is to have every dog, or “at least the majority”, vaccinated by the middle of next month.

At the same time, he directed the state Health Department to keep track of and revisit all reported cases of dog bite.

“It is important we keep track of them to assess their health.”

The deputy chief minister said the state’s target is to be rabies free in three years. – February 3, 2018.