Bali rabies death toll tops 124

Feb 24, 2011, 10:15 GMT

Jakarta - An outbreak of rabies that has hit Indonesia's resort island of Bali since late 2008 has killed 124 people, officials said Thursday.

A 62-year-old man who died on Wednesday became the latest victim of the disease, said Ken Wirasandhi, a member of a team in charge of handling the disease at the main Sanglah hospital.

'The man was in critical condition when he was admitted,' he said.

On Sunday, two more people died of the disease, according to a report in the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

The Bali government has embarked on a campaign to vaccinate nearly 400,000 dogs in an effort to eradicate rabies by 2012.

Bali health chief Nyoman Sutedja said a lack of control in the dog trade could further fuel the spread of the disease.

But he said despite the new deaths, cases of dog bites had fallen from about 200 a day to 130.

'The new cases won't threaten the goal of eradicating rabies by 2012,' Sutedja said. 'The trend is cases are on the decline.'

Official data put the number of dogs in Bali at around 450,000, the actual figure could be a lot higher, officials have said. Balinese are known for their love of dogs.

Rabies is a viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal, especially dogs.

It has been reported on the Indonesian islands of Java and Flores, but Bali was free of the disease for decades until 2008.

The World Health Organization estimated that more than 40,000 people die from rabies every year. Most deaths occur in developing countries.

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