KUCHING, Sept 9 — Sarawak recorded its 24th fatality from rabies after a 51-year-old man succumbed to the disease yesterday.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the victim was from Jalan Penrissen here.

The virus was detected through a laboratory test at Institute of Medical Research (IMR) last Friday, he said via the Health Ministry’s website.

“The man succumbed to rabies encephalitis at 6.29pm yesterday,” he said.

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The man was warded at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) here for a backache on August 26.

Prior to that he could not move for three days and was also vomiting and suffering from epilepsy.

Initial investigations could not confirm whether or not he had a history of dog or animal bites, although he had a dog and a cat as pets and that the dog has yet to be vaccinated for rabies.

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To date, the behaviour of the dog and cat are normal and show no signs of change.

With this latest death, the ministry recorded three deaths in 2020 alone, said Dr Noor Hisham.

Since the rabies outbreak was declared on July 1, 2017 in Sarawak, the state has recorded 25 cases of the disease including 24 fatal ones, he added. — Borneo Post