KUCHING, Nov 8 — The Health Ministry has confirmed the death of a five-year-old boy from Kampung Mambong, Jalan Penrissen here on November 2 was due to rabies.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement today, said the boy was pronounced dead while undergoing treatment at the Sarawak General Hospital Intensive Care Unit.
He said a laboratory test conducted on a sample from the case was confirmed to be positive for rabies.
Dr Noor Hisham said the boy who had been less active since October 13 and was complaining of a sore throat.
“On October 15, he developed a fever and behaved in an unusual manner before he was taken to a private clinic for examination.
“His condition worsened and he was brought to a health clinic on October 18 where he was diagnosed with Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. On October 21, the boy’s condition deteriorated and he was taken to the Sarawak General Hospital,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham said it was also found that the victim’s family had two unvaccinated pet dogs, however, the victim had never complained of being bitten by a dog or other animals.
He said with the confirmation of the latest case, the number of rabies cases in Sarawak since the outbreak of the disease was declared on July 1, 2017 was 22, including 21 deaths. Six of the cases were detected this year. — Bernama
