After only reporting three human rabies fatalities over the past three years, health officials in the Visayan province of Eastern Samar have reported four rabies deaths already so far in 2014.
Image/CDC
Edna Tumandao, provincial rabies coordinator for the human side said Eastern Samar’s population is only 448,180, so four rabies deaths is considered alarming.
All twenty-three towns in the province have their own municipal rabies control coordinating councils; some have even organized councils in the barangay (village) level.
The provincial health office also ensures that treatment for rabies is always available in animal bite centers located in government-run hospitals.
Rabies is a zoonotic disease (a disease that is transmitted to humans from animals) that is caused by a virus. The disease affects domestic and wild animals, and is spread to people through close contact with infectious material, usually saliva, via bites or scratches.
Rabies is present on all continents with the exception of Antartica, but more than 95% of human deaths occur in Asia and Africa. Once symptoms of the disease develop, rabies is nearly always fatal. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page
