By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) reports one additional death of rabies case among humans in Sarawak, which was confirmed positive on 11 May 2021.

Image/Malaysia MOH

The case is a 45 -year -old male citizen who lives in a house of a board factory worker in Stapang, Selangau, Sarawak. He was admitted to the Sibu Hospital ward on May 6, 2021 due to symptoms of fever, headache, sore throat, pain while drinking water and hydrophobia.

He has a history of being bitten twice, namely on the calf and chin by two different dogs belonging to his colleague in February and March 2021 in the area of ​​the sawmill. However, he did not wash the wounds on his calves and chin with running water and soap for 15 minutes and never sought treatment after being bitten by the dog. The owner had killed the two dogs but did not hand over the carcass to the Sarawak Veterinary Services Department for further investigation.

On 6 May 2021, the case was admitted to the Sibu Hospital ward for treatment. His condition is deteriorating and is in critical condition from 9 May 2021. Clinical samples for rabies virus detection test were taken and sent to the laboratory of Sarawak General Hospital and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) on 10 May 2021. Sample results were reported positive for rabies on 11 May 2021. The case died on 12 May 2021 at 1:24 am with a diagnosis of rabies encephalitis.

With the addition of new cases, the latest number of rabies cases among humans in Sarawak for 2021 is four. Since the rabies outbreak was declared on July 1, 2017 in Sarawak, the number of cases has been 35 with 33 deaths. There were two cases of surviving children however with severe neurological complications.