A medical worker give rabies vaccination to a patient. The northern Thái Nguyên Province witnessed several cases of rabies during the first three months of this year. – Photo congly.com.vn

THÁI NGUYÊN (VNS) – The northern Thái Nguyên Province witnessed several cases of rabies during the first three months of this year, the provincial Preventive Medicine Centre said.

Nearly 2,500 people in the province were bitten by suspected rabid dogs and were vaccinated against rabies at local medical stations.

Three people died from rabies in Ðồng Hỷ and Võ Nhai districts and in Sông Công City. All three people did not get themselves vaccinated against rabies after being bitten by dogs. The youngest victim was eight years old and the oldest was 63.

The risk of a rabies outbreak has increased in the province because of several incidents in which many dogs of unknown origin ran amok, biting people or biting each other, local medical workers said.

Many people got their injuries treated by practitioners of Vietnamese traditional medicine, instead getting themselves vaccinated. Then they were instructed by medical workers to go to medical stations to get the vaccine.

Only 40 to 65 per cent of the dogs in the province had been vaccinated against rabies, the Thái Nguyên Animal Health Department said.

The provincial health sector distributed information leaflets about the disease among residents, and asked medical workers to educate the people more about the issue.

Six people died from rabies in the province last year. More than 10,000 people were bitten by dogs and were vaccinated against rabies. – VNS