Rafael Marmolejo, Provincial Nurse Rabies Coordinator of PHO, said the latest suspected rabies fatality was a six-year-old child from San Carlos City.
According to Marmolejo, the nine cases were tagged as “suspected” because they showed symptoms such as hydrophobia and aerophobia or fears of water and drafts, respectively.
Marmolejo pointed out that a case can only be tagged as “confirmed” if the patient’s laboratory results was verified by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
He said most of the fatalities failed to seek immediate treatment and their local animal bites center.
The nurse recalled one case wherein the male patient, a resident of Manapla town, knew of being bitten by a dog, but instead of going to the local health center, she opted to be treated by means of “tandok” or traditional medicine.
When the patient finally went to the local health center after the symptoms worsened, Marmolejo said, it was already too late and the patient passed away a few days later.
Seven of the other fatalities were also noted to have used “tandok” to treat their dog bites.
He also noted that the one confirmed and nine suspected rabies cases were all bitten by dogs.
Marmolejo added that proper treatment of animal bite is to wash the wound using running water and soap for 10 to 15 minutes.
After washing the wound, Marmolejo advised to apply betadine to the wound and immediately go to the nearest animal bites center or health center to receive rabies vaccine.
“Do not use cream or anything else like garlic,” he said.
Marmolejo further noted that the fatalities were mostly from upland areas of the province, although he couldn’t say that the patients were ignorant citing as example the Manapla case.
Currently, Negros Occidental has a total of 21 Animal Bite Treatment Centers. Of which, 16 were certified while five are still on process.
Marmolejo also noted that they currently do not have any problems with rabies vaccines, as they constantly receive supplies from the Department of Health (DOH), provincial government and local government units.*