IPOH: Test results on another 10 samples taken from dogs in Kuala Sepetang where a rabies case was first detected, has come back negative.
State Health Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said results for six more samples from the area sent to the Veterinary Research Institute would be known soon.
"One sample still pending further tests while five other samples were received today. Between July 13 and today, a total of 22 samples have been collected from stray dogs in Kuala Sepetang.
"So far, only one tested positive for rabies while the remaining other samples have tested negative," he said.
Veterinary Service Department director-general Datuk Dr Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam said the department was still monitoring the 2,269 animals (656 dogs and 1,613 cats), covering a 10km radius area from which the first case was detected.
"A total of 22 stray dogs had been culled so far. The operation and awareness campaign covers door-to-door checks where our personnel visited 3,571 pet owners there.
"A total of 127 dogs and 239 cats have been vaccinated in the operation within a 1km radius of the detected case involving 107 pet owners," he said in a statement today.
It was reported that the state government declared the Matang sub-district as well as Larut and Selama, as rabies-infected areas.
In the first case, a pet dog had shown clinical symptoms of contracting the viral disease – vomiting, having no appetite, fever and cramps – five days after it has bitten two girls, aged 12 and 11, in Tepi Sungai.
The dog died nine days after the attack. The children recovered from the wounds without co-morbid or co-existing illnesses.