Dr Ooi: 44-year-old cat owner is Sarawak’s 16th rabies fatality for 2023

KUCHING (Dec 14): Human rabies claimed its 16th victim in Sarawak for this year on Tuesday.

State Health director Dr Ooi Choo Huck said in a statement the 44-year-old woman presented with symptoms of the virus on Nov 28.

She was a diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure.

Samples from the woman confirmed that she had contracted rabies.

The victim had six domestic cats, which are said to have been in contact with other animals.

None of the cats were vaccinated against rabies and one of them died about two months ago.

Based on clinical observation, old scratch marks and wounds were found on the woman’s body.

She never received any anti-rabies vaccination or treatment from any health facility for her scratches and wounds.

In total, 18 cases of human rabies have been recorded in Sarawak between Jan 1 and Dec 13 this year.

From those cases, five were recorded in Sibu, followed by Serian (4), Kuching (4), Bintulu (3), and Samarahan (2).

“There is a marked increase in the number of cases this year by 28.6 per cent compared to that last year. There was a total of 14 cases for the whole of 2022.

“Since the declaration of rabies cases in Sarawak as endemic in 2017, cumulatively up to now there has been a total of 73 cases, including 66 fatal ones,” said Dr Ooi.

Following the increase of rabies cases involving humans, cats, and dogs in Sarawak, he advised the public to take precautionary measures for instance, avoid from getting scratched by domestic animals or pets, and to get immediate and proper treatment should that happen.