The Department of Disease Control (DDC) held a meeting Thursday with related agencies after the discovery in Surin of the first fatality from rabies this year.
Executives from the DDC, the Department of Livestock Development, and the Public Relations Department, visited Surin after a 32-year-old man, who was bitten by a stray dog late last year and who had not received any treatment, recently died in hospital.
The meeting was held to find an answer to the issue and promote a preventive method, encouraging the general public to quickly wash any wounds after being bitten by dogs or cats, using water and soap several times and immediately seeing medical attention to receive a proper diagnosis and vaccination. Patients should also note whether the animal had suspicious health symptoms or died within 10 days of biting or scratching a victim.
Dogs and cat owners should take their pets to receive an annual vaccination and local administrative organizations are now proactively offering free vaccinations for pets from March to June.
According to the statistics in 2018, there were 17 cases of fatalities from rabies in Thailand.
