The Ebonyi Government has mandated residents of the state to vaccinate their dogs and cats against the dreaded of rabies, Concise News understands.
The mandate was contained in a release signed by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Moses Nome drawing the residents’ attention to the importance of such vaccination.
“All dogs and cats owners who have not vaccinated their pets should do so immediately by visiting the veterinary centers in the state.
“These centers are domiciled at Abakaiki (Ebonyi north senatorial zone), Onueke (Ebonyi central) and Afikpo (Ebonyi south zone)
“This is to prevent the transmission of rabies through these pets to humans and keep the state free from the disease,” it said.
In a related development, the state government has assured residents of effective containing the yellow fever disease reported in some parts of the Izzi Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The assurance which was contained in a statement signed by Dr Daniel Umezurike, the state Commissioner for Health, urged the residents to be calm and not panic over the situation.
“The state ministry of health, in conjunction with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), among other partners, is working assiduously to contain and also eradicate the disease.
“The citizens are however enjoined to continue adopting preventive measures on the disease which include: sleeping inside insecticide-treated nets and keeping their surroundings clean, among others,” the government said.
The Lagos State Government had alerted the public on how rabies had killed two adult male in the state.
According to the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, who spoke at a news conference in Alausa, two people had died of rabies.
Casualties
He said that the 49-year-old was bitten by his three-months-old dog who was bitten by a new dog he bought three weeks to the incident.
According to the Commissioner, the two dogs were observed to be behaving abnormally before they were killed.
“The patient was admitted at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH on 28 March 2017 and died within a few hours of admission,” he revealed.
Idris said the second case involving a 33-year-old man, occurred in Badagry, the outskirts of Lagos.
Giving further insights, he said that the 33-year-old man was presented at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital LUTH on the 9th of March, 2017 with reports of restlessness, agitation, hydrophobia, and aerophobia.
“He was said to have been bitten by a dog about six months before presentation. The patient was given Tetanus Toxoid after the bite and the dog was killed. The patient died on March 13, 2017,” he said.
What health commissioner said
The Commissioner for health pointed out that rabies was among major neglected tropical diseases occurring mainly among the poor who cannot access vaccines when such cases occur.
The doctor stressed that a vulnerable population with high death rates from this disease was as a result of the unavailability of human vaccines and immunoglobulin.
He said that children between the ages of 5-14 are vulnerable to getting killed by this disease because of exposure to these dogs and their growing age.
Idris suggested that in order to contain the spread and killing rate of this disease, all cases of dog bites must be reported, investigated and treated immediately.
He added that pets must be adequately and effectively vaccinated.
