ILOILO – The Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) requested for a P4-million augmentation fund for its rabies vaccination program.
In a letter to Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr., Dr. Darel Tabuada, supervising veterinarian of the provincial government, the PVO planned to procure 9,000 vials of rabies vaccines good for 90,000 dogs.
These 90,000 dogs are 35 percent of the annual target dog population for vaccination required by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), said Tabuada.
BAI’s annual target for dog vaccination is 70 percent of the total dog population.
Iloilo currently has a dog population of 258,403. Tabuada said the PVO must be able to vaccinate 170,000 this year.
The Philippines is among the top 10 countries with the highest incidence of rabies in the world. DOH estimates that about 100,000 Filipinos are treated for dog bites and 200 to 300 die from rabies annually.
Among Filipinos, dogs account for 98 percent of rabies infection, cats account for the remaining two percent, according to DOH.
“We in the PVO is not wholly funding the vaccination of the 70 percent dog population target because we want our 43 local government units (LGUs) to shell out counterpart funds,” said Tabuada.
LGUs must be in the frontline of the vaccination campaign, he stressed, and the provincial government would just be augmenting them.
Last year, BAI provided Iloilo with 500 vials good for 5,000 dogs.
PVO record showed that as of October 2019, it was able to vaccinate 69 percent (173,672) of Iloilo’s dogs population of 252,976.
Rabies primarily affects warm-blooded animals other than man, notably dogs, cats, rats, and bats, but which can be transmitted to humans by infected animals. The rabies virus, which is present in the saliva of an infected animal, is passed to a human through a bite, or rarely, when the animal’s saliva gets in contact with a scratch or fresh break in the skin.
The rabies virus primarily affects the central nervous system. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to those of many other infection — fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort.
As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and may include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, salivation, difficulty in swallowing, and hydrophobia (fear of water)./PN
