By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Veterinary Officer attached to the Livestock Division in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, Kenema District, has told Politico that their office recorded 119 cases of Animal bites suffered by residents so far since the start of the year.
Paul Ngegba said they had received cases associated with dogs, snakes, and even cats though at the time of the interview, he couldn’t give a breakdown of the different cases received by the vet division.
Ngegba said for a dog bite, they collect the sample by taking the severed head of the dog in question to Telco veterinary laboratory in Kenema for testing to ascertain whether the bite was either negative or positive for the rabies virus.
He said that not all dog bites can be associated with rabies as some could be a result of anger manifested by especially young mothers protecting their puppies.
‘’Rabies vaccine is free for people coming with cases of dog bites,’’ he said.
The District Veterinary Officer further stated that from the four samples recently taken from dog bites, he could not give the actual statistics of deaths associated with rabies.
In describing the signs and symptoms of a dog with rabies, he said they become aggressive and could be seen with saliva running from the mouth and nostrils. He said they normally get rabies vaccine from partners like the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and Ministry of Health and Sanitation and do provide treatment for victims of rabies, especially children.
He stated that the rabies vaccine is free of cost but when it is not available they do referrals to Freetown. Talking about the rampant presence of street dogs in Kenema, he said they work in collaboration with the Kenema City Council which is in charge of registering all dogs within the City, in getting the data of the animals.
Ngegba encouraged people to look after their pets at home as proper care will stop them from roaming the streets.
He ended up by saying that rabies is a zoonotic disease that affects dogs and could in turn infect humans.
Copyright (c) 2023 Politico (24/11/23)
