DA-WV beefs up rabies management efforts

By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

The Department of Agriculture-Western Visayas (DA-WV) is intensifying its efforts to improve the surveillance, testing and treatment, and public awareness of rabies in communities.

DA-WV has collaborated with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through its Japan and Philippines One Health Rabies Project (JICA-JAPOHR) for a two-day training on rabies lateral flow device diagnosis, straw brain sampling methods, rabies one-health rapid response, and rabies data share system for contact tracing and vaccinations of animals.

The training, with the aim of equipping them with the most recent knowledge and advancements in rabies management, was joined by around 55 participants, including health workers, representatives from local government units (LGUs), and agriculture officers.

It can be recalled that in December 2022, JICA inked a partnership with the Department of Health (DOH), DA-Bureau of Animal Industries (DA-BAI),  and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in efforts to help eradicate rabies disease in the Philippines.

Rabies is a deadly virus that can infect humans and animals, transmitted through the saliva of infected animals. It has a “100% fatality rate” according to DOH.

Dr. Rodney R. Labis of the Provincial Health Office emphasized the importance of rapid testing, data-sharing systems, and quick response as effective tools in controlling and preventing rabies.

“To prevent rabies, we need to raise public awareness on prevention and control. The Provincial Veterinary Office is our counterpart in improving community awareness on proper dog body language and pet interactions to avoid dog bites,” he said.

Labis mentioned that the 10 human rabies deaths recorded from January to June this year and though DOH has declared 29 areas in Western Visayas as rabies-free, the region still has to intensify efforts necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.

Veterinarian Pacifico Lumawag III, DA-WV’s Focal Person for Animal Health, shared that the Regional Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory tested 48 brain samples for animal rabies from January to March 2023, and 28 of them tested positive.

In light of this data, Labis furthered that the regional office aims to “implement the OPLAN RED (Rabies Elimination in Dogs) to progressively reduce the risk of dog rabies in areas with present cases and to maintain rabies-free status to areas where freedom from this virus is already achieved.”

OPLAN-RED is part of the DOH’s Rabies Medium Term Plan (MTP) 2017-2022 and involves all provincial veterinary offices and LGUs in its full implementation which includes training on population control like neutering and spaying for rabies prevention and control.