LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte – Isinailalim sa emergency health situation ang lalawigang ito dahil sa kaso ng rabies sa nasa 53 barangay.
Kinumpirma ni Dr. Loida Valenzuela, provincial veterinarian ng Ilocos Norte, nitong Linggo, Hunyo 11, na naitala ang mga positibong kaso ng rabies sa Batac City at Laoag City at sa mga bayan ng Paoay, San Nicolas, at Badoc.
“We came up with this emergency health situation due to the rising incidence of dog rabies cases in the villages to mobilize all the local officials down to the barangays promoting the massive vaccination of dogs against rabies virus to control if not eliminate its spread all over the province,” aniya.
Para mapigilan ang pagkalat ng rabies, sinabi ni Valenzuela na kailangan ng multi-agency approach, kabilang ang mga pulis at ang mga may-ari ng alagang hayop.
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“I am also appealing to the police authorities to strictly implement the RA 9482 or the Anti-Rabies Act of 2007 to help in the advocacy of importance on the massive vaccination of dogs in their area,” aniya.
“To the pet owners, they should be responsible to subject their dogs to anti-rabies vaccination for the protection of the community residents from possible rabies virus infection,” dagdag niya.
Sinabi niya na ang lalawigan ay mayroong hindi bababa sa 66,000 aso na kailangang mabakunahan ng anti-rabies vaccine sa lalong madaling panahon.
“For now, we are implementing the risk-based vaccination program to prevent the spread of the rabies virus in the province and we strengthen the border control checkpoints to prevent the possible entry of the rabies virus to the province,” ani Valenzuela.
Freddie Velez
