Rabies warning nationwide as infection rates ‘much worse’ than before

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Rabies warning nationwide as infection rates ‘much worse’ than before

By THE NATION

 

A team of volunteers vaccinates a stray dog in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district yesterday. The area is believed to be at risk of further infections.

 

THE RABIES situation is still considered severe, as 37 provinces have reported cases since the New Year, resulting in three human deaths.
 

As of yesterday, the situation in Thailand as reported by thairabies.net showed that at least 345 cases of animal infections had been confirmed this year, while Roi Et was found to have the highest number of confirmed cases, as there were already 69 reported.

 

 

According to the rabies infection database, the Northeastern region was still a hotspot for infections, as every province in the lower part of the region had confirmed rabies cases. Three provinces – Roi Et (69 cases), Surin (36) and Yasothon (22) – were the top three provinces for infections in the country.

 

The situation was also severe in other regions as well. In the South, Songkhla had 17 confirmed rabies cases, the fourth-highest confirmed number of cases. There has also been one death from rabies in Songkhla.

 

 

Nakhon Si Thammarat and Trang in the South also are concerned about the situation, with one confirmed case of a human being infected with the virus in Trang.

 

In the North, Chiang Rai had the highest number of cases in the region, with 10 confirmed.

 

Almost every province in the East also showed animal infections. In that region, Chon Buri had the most cases with 14 cases reported. Only Sa Kaew and Trat were still rabies-free in the region. Bangkok was also found to have five confirmed cases of animal infections.

 

 

It was found that 91.3 per cent of infected animals were dogs and 2.03 per cent were cats. Also, 60.25 per cent of infected animals had owners and only 32.61 per cent were strays. The majority of the infected animals did not have vaccination records or only had vague records.

 

Surge in cases

 

The Livestock Development Department has urged pet owners to vaccinate their pets, while the department has already dispatched teams to vaccinate |dogs and cats in the provinces that were deemed especially at risk.

 

According to statistics, the infection rate this year is much worse than in the previous years, as there have been 178 cases of rabies reported in February compared to only 79 cases in February 2017, 47 cases in February 2016 and 40 cases in February 2015.

 

 

Livestock Development Department director-general Apai Suttisunk said that even though there had been a rapid spread of the disease in many provinces, there were 22 provinces that still had not seen reports of infections for three years.

 

Apai said the department was working with the Livestock Development Offices in those provinces to maintain their rabies-free status in line with the criteria of the World Organisation for Animal Health.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30340506

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-09

[gunderhill]

Cull em, stop the stupidity of "making merit" by feeding them. won't  happen, stupid  is as  stupid does, make  it  illegal to have a dog  out on the  loose  anywhere unless leashed.

Many Thai dog  "owners" are  irresponsible they say they take care  but its  just laughable, throwing out a  bowl of  rice for these mangy things is a  joke.

[bkkcanuck8]

1 hour ago, gunderhill said:

Cull em, stop the stupidity of "making merit" by feeding them. won't  happen, stupid  is as  stupid does, make  it  illegal to have a dog  out on the  loose  anywhere unless leashed.

Many Thai dog  "owners" are  irresponsible they say they take care  but its  just laughable, throwing out a  bowl of  rice for these mangy things is a  joke.

It is not just "domestic" pets that are at issue they have to have an Oral Rabies Vaccine program through bait in the wild to combat the spread of the rabies virus.  The domestic pets are just the tip of the iceberg....  culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

[anon537687643]

Only in a country such as this would there be vaccinations of wild dogs rather than getting them off the streets roaming around!


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[ChrisY1]

20 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

It is not just "domestic" pets that are at issue they have to have an Oral Rabies Vaccine program through bait in the wild to combat the spread of the rabies virus.  The domestic pets are just the tip of the iceberg....  culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

Seems to be dogs in towns that are attacking people and infecting..soi dogs.....as gunderhill stated..cull them...then go after the source.

[stanleycoin]

This wild dog thing is totally out of control

in Thailand.

Time for 85% of them to die.

And stop feeding them for Christ sake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

[RichardColeman]

Import more Cambodians with the offer of free food.

[Colabamumbai]

I am a responsible dog owner. All soi dogs need to be culled throughout the country.

[Kieran00001]

51 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

It is not just "domestic" pets that are at issue they have to have an Oral Rabies Vaccine program through bait in the wild to combat the spread of the rabies virus.  The domestic pets are just the tip of the iceberg....  culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

 

It is the issue as it is domestic animals that people come into contact with, rabies is a natural disease but it is brought into our urban areas through dog and cat owners allowing their animals to roam free.

[mentalcolonization]

why is there no pictures of dogs in the temples ??? nonsense 

[Kieran00001]

5 minutes ago, mentalcolonization said:

why is there no pictures of dogs in the temples ??? nonsense 

 

Its hardly their fault, there is nothing they can do with an animal given to them but take care of it, its written that they must.

[Orton Rd]

16 minutes ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

It is not just "domestic" pets that are at issue they have to have an Oral Rabies Vaccine program through bait in the wild to combat the spread of the rabies virus.  The domestic pets are just the tip of the iceberg....  culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

Dead dogs do not spread rabies though and there is not enough vaccine or time to inoculate around 4 million soi dogs. Killing them is the best way to control rabies but they will not do it, we know the main reason why! Meanwhile the spread of this terrible disease will go on causing untold misery.

[dinsdale]

36 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

This wild dog thing is totally out of control

in Thailand.

Time for 85% of them to die.

And stop feeding them for Christ sake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Thais believe in reincarnation. I'm not sure if this is true but they believe that the dogs may be relatives that did something bad in their previous life and have been reincarnated as a dog and need to be looked after. The thing about this is that the dogs would have to be good to be reincarnated back to human form. This of course is pure anthropomorphism as good and bad are human constructs. Still religion/superstitions are hard nuts to crack with logic and Thais will continue to feed these strays. 

[oldlakey]

2 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Cull em, stop the stupidity of "making merit" by feeding them. won't  happen, stupid  is as  stupid does, make  it  illegal to have a dog  out on the  loose  anywhere unless leashed.

Many Thai dog  "owners" are  irresponsible they say they take care  but its  just laughable, throwing out a  bowl of  rice for these mangy things is a  joke.

Calm down man there has only been three deaths so far

Things will will have to warm up a bit more than that

[zzidenn]

grab a few dogs and have them vaccinated..that’s better than big words and “good advice”

[oldlakey]

54 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

This wild dog thing is totally out of control

in Thailand.

Time for 85% of them to die.

And stop feeding them for Christ sake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

100% would be better

[geisha]

Wild dogs and a  country full of trash and dirty sea water. Tragic road accidents every day of the week killing innocent people. No action taken over all these years, and this is the result. 

[mikebell]

1 hour ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

Surely most of the reported cases are spread by these wild dogs?  Taking them out of the picture must reduce the chances of further infections.

[oldlakey]

4 minutes ago, geisha said:

Wild dogs and a  country full of trash and dirty sea water. Tragic road accidents every day of the week killing innocent people. No action taken over all these years, and this is the result. 

You reap what you sow

[tigermoth]

Soi dogs must be culled and it made illegal to go eyond your property line with a dog not on a leash. Vaccinations of owned dogs must also be compulsory. Surely a human life is worth more than the expense of vaccination which should be born by the govt.

[madmitch]

Although I am in favour of a cull, I do appreciate the work done by the Soi Dogs Foundation in Phuket; it at least helps to control numbers. 

 

But what about cats? Cats are as big a problem as dogs in carrying rabies and whereas the soi dogs near me seem to have reduced in numbers, the number of feral cats has grown rapidly.And they've been known to bite. 

[stanleycoin]

19 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

Thais believe in reincarnation. I'm not sure if this is true but they believe that the dogs may be relatives that did something bad in their previous life and have been reincarnated as a dog and need to be looked after. The thing about this is that the dogs would have to be good to be reincarnated back to human form. This of course is pure anthropomorphism as good and bad are human constructs. Still religion/superstitions are hard nuts to crack with logic and Thais will continue to feed these strays. 

Years ago,   i would say your right..

 

But after Thailand introduced the national lottery.

this feeding of animals dogs, fish, birds and so on. has taken on a form of merit making,  that they believe gives them a  fast track place to the winning the latest lottery numbers. kind of buying there stairway to heaven, or Nirvana. 

The lord Buddha would not be pleased,   if he could see what Thailand has done to Buddhism.

 

Right i'm off to feed the dogs at the Wat and buy a lottery ticket, 

 

 

 

[stanleycoin]

25 minutes ago, oldlakey said:

100% would be better

We need a few left over for the Korans and Cambodians 

[Bundooman]

1 hour ago, bkkcanuck8 said:

It is not just "domestic" pets that are at issue they have to have an Oral Rabies Vaccine program through bait in the wild to combat the spread of the rabies virus.  The domestic pets are just the tip of the iceberg....  culling soi dogs won't do much, if anything to combat it.

Culling soi dogs will certainly help reduce the threat to humans,  irrespective of the Rabies virus in the wild. But it won't affect the number of 'domestic' cats which are also likely to be infected.

 

Also, I am surprised that, given the quoted recent history of rabies in Thailand, "The department was working with the Livestock Development Offices in those provinces to maintain their rabies-free status in line with the criteria of the World Organisation for Animal Health"

 

Rabies free status?

[spiroinusa1]

Its 2018. Unbelievable. An impossible country when it comes to basic common sense things.

[maximillian]

1 hour ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

Its hardly their fault, there is nothing they can do with an animal given to them but take care of it, its written that they must.

If there is a will to do the right thing there is a way. Just do away with what is "written".

[Jimdandy]

Send in the kind hearted German who loves 'junkyard' dogs

[mogandave]

3 hours ago, gunderhill said:

Cull em, stop the stupidity of "making merit" by feeding them. won't  happen, stupid  is as  stupid does, make  it  illegal to have a dog  out on the  loose  anywhere unless leashed.

Many Thai dog  "owners" are  irresponsible they say they take care  but its  just laughable, throwing out a  bowl of  rice for these mangy things is a  joke.

Why not just make it illegal for dogs to bite people?

[Farang99]

2 hours ago, markaoffy said:

Only in a country such as this would there be vaccinations of wild dogs rather than getting them off the streets roaming around!


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

When I lived in Malaya (50 years ago) you had to take your dog to the government vet for the rabies jab, and were then issued with an aluminium collar tag, which was a different colour each year. Any dog seen without a current tag was liable to be shot. There were no soi dogs at all.

[uffe123]

When are they going to round up these mangy soi dogs? Shit in front of my house everyday. If this was my house in the U.S. they would't be there for long. They would either be rounded upby the local animal control, or be shot.

My son was chased and bitten by one last year, lucky it didn't break the skin.