ILOILO CITY — The city veterinarian on Monday asked Iloilo City Mayor Jose Espinosa III to reconstitute the Iloilo City Rabies Control Council that is responsible for recommending strategies to control the entry of positive rabies cases in the metropolis.
City Veterinarian Tomas Forteza cited the need to reorganize after the city recorded eight animal rabies cases based on the examination conducted by the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory from January to July this year.
These cases broke Iloilo City’s record of zero rabies cases in the past four years.
The city veterinarian admitted that last year, he was “alarmed” because of the “clustering” of cases in adjacent Pavia town.
“I volunteered to help them control the area but there was no positive response,” he said.
This year, clustering of cases was recorded in the boundaries of Pavia.
Forteza admitted that while the city has intensified its border vaccination, it was difficult yet to prevent the transfer of a rabid dog because there are no natural boundaries.
The positive cases of animal rabies were from Barangays Lapus Sur, Lapuz; Tabucan and Guzman-Jesena in Mandurriao; Tacas, San Isidro and Quintin Salas, Jaro and at the central market for dogs.
A lone rabies case involving a cat was recorded in Cochero, Molo. The last time Iloilo City recorded a positive case was six years ago.
Forteza also revealed that a two-year-old child from San Isidro, Jaro was bitten by the rabid dog and is now placed under observation.
The parents and the uncle, who prepared the specimen that was submitted to the diagnostic laboratory, were also given appropriate medication.
“It was already addressed by the City Health Office through the animal bite treatment center,” he said.
Meantime, Forteza said his office has done a backtracking of the positive cases.
In Hibao-an, Mandurriao, it has eliminated 15 dogs that had a contact with the rabid dog. They were able to also trace a three-month old puppy and when it was examined, it was found positive of rabies.
He lauded the barangay officials of barangay Tabucan for their help in trying to trace the rabid dog in their areas.
Meanwhile, another six dogs were eliminated in Tacas, Jaro.
Forteza assured the situation is “under control”, although it is “alarming in the sense that cases happened along the boundaries”.
He said they will be doing revaccination in the next weeks in boundary barangays. They have an available 2,500 doses and they will ask for augmentation from the Department of Agriculture (DA).
Meanwhile, Espinosa said he will be bringing the issue before members of the Metro Iloilo Guimaras Economic and Development Council (MIGEDC) that is composed of Iloilo City’s adjacent municipalities like Pavia, Leganes and Oton.
He said the city veterinarian’s office will be on his list of priorities for a service vehicle they can use to roundup stray dogs in the city.
“I would like to address that immediately,” he added. (Perla Lena/PNA)
