SARAWAK recorded 94 human rabies cases with 87 deaths to date, including four fatalities this year, despite a sharp decline in the animal rabies positivity rate since 2018.
Minister for Food Industry, Commodity and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, said the positivity rate had dropped from 42.7 per cent in 2018 to around six per cent last year.
However, he said transmission continued among free-roaming and stray dogs, which remained a major challenge in the state’s rabies control efforts.
“Rabies is fatal but preventable. Rabies remains a serious public health concern in Sarawak despite continuous control efforts since 2017,” he said in his ministerial winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today (May 19).
Dr Rundi said vaccination coverage was still below the recommended 70 per cent herd immunity target due to the high number of unvaccinated and free-roaming dogs.
This year alone, 18 positive rabies cases were detected from 469 animal samples collected in Kuching, Samarahan, Serian and Bintulu, while a total of 311,260 vaccine doses had been administered statewide from 2017 until March this year.
On control measures, Dr Rundi said integrated vaccination programmes involving parenteral vaccination and Oral Rabies Vaccine (ORV) deployment had been carried out in high-risk areas such as Padawan and Kuching.
“During the three-week programme, 3,579 dogs were vaccinated while 2,281 ORV baits were distributed to target free-roaming dogs.
“However, ORV only complemented and did not replace parenteral vaccination,” he stressed.
Sarawak aims to vaccinate 50,000 dogs this year, with Veterinary Mobile Teams to be deployed in urban and high-risk areas to improve access, strengthen responsible pet ownership enforcement, and enhance community engagement.
