Alarming increase in rabies across the country

In 2022 the Ministry of Health recorded 70 deaths from rabies in 25 provinces and cities, an increase of 5 deaths compared to 2021. The provinces with the most cases include Ben Tre (13 cases), Kien Giang (5 cases), Nghe An (5 cases) and Quang Binh (5 cases).

From the beginning of 2023 to now, the whole country has had 4 cases of human death due to rabies in 3 provinces: Lao Cai (1 case), Quang Ninh (1 case) and Gia Lai (2 cases). At the same time, updated reports from localities show that the whole country has detected 39 cases of animal rabies in 13 provinces.

Recently, while the number of deaths from rabies has tended to decrease in high-risk provinces, there are signs of an increase in cases in low-risk provinces and the disease has also appeared in some new provinces. It is very likely that rabies epidemics will continue to occur and cause harm to humans in the near future.

According to Dr. Phan Van Minh, Head of Epidemiology Office (Department of Animal Health), the total herd of dogs and cats in the country has now reached nearly 7 million, while the average proportion of dogs and cats being vaccinated is very low, reaching approximately 40%. This is considered the leading cause of rabies increase. Currently, only 13 provinces and cities have achieved vaccination rates of over 70% of the total herd.

Lack of management of dogs is also an important cause of rabies increase. Dogs with rabies are mainly those with unknown owners and not vaccinated. In addition, many dog owners do not comply with regulations concerning the registration and keeping of dogs. The situation of dogs letting loose and not wearing muzzles is common, leading to serious injuries and deaths to humans, causing frustration in society. The management of dogs in localities is still lax. Most localities have not established a specialized team to capture stray dogs, and have not applied sufficient sanctions to violations of regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Van Buoi, Deputy Director of Ben Tre Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the number of deaths due to rabies increased dramatically in Ben Tre in the past year due to the subjectivity and neglect of localities in the management and monitoring of dogs and cats. The situation is considered dire because Ben Tre has not had any rabies cases for 7 consecutive years (before 2021).

Communes and wards have not been paying attention to information disseminating or propagating to people about the risk of rabies. Agencies at all levels also lacked coordination in the vaccination of dogs and cats. The vaccination rate for dogs and cats in Ben Tre was quite low, only 20-25% of the total herd before 2021.

As a result of the low vaccination rate, the number of deaths from rabies in Ben Tre increased sharply in the first half of 2022. Faced with that situation, the People's Committee of Ben Tre province has directed the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Departments of Health and localities, mass organizations in the province decisively involved in the prevention of rabies, along with support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and FAO. So far the percentage of dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies has reached over 76% in Ben Tre.

In order to perform urgent control of the ongoing outbreaks of rabies in animals and prevent new outbreaks from arising and spreading, the Department of Animal Health proposes provinces and cities focus resources to organize the drastic and synchronous implementation of rabies prevention and control measures. All actions must be in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Veterinary Medicine, the documents guiding the implementation of the Law on Veterinary Medicine specifically Decision No. 2151/QD-TTg dated December 21, 2021 on approval of the National Rabies Prevention and Control Program, period 2022-2030, and the directive of the Prime Minister.

According to the Department of Animal Health, from the beginning of 2023 until now, businesses have supplied 881,000 doses of rabies vaccine on animals, storing 4.3 million doses at the enterprises' warehouses. The estimated production and import in the second quarter of the year is 2.5 million doses.