Dili, March 21, 2025 (Média Democracia) – The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Forestry (MAPPF) through the Animal Health Service (DNSV) in 2024-2025 has vaccinated 50,002 dogs and also recorded cases of more than 80 dogs infected with the rabies virus in the Timor-Leste region.
In an interview with the Director of DNSV, Joanita Bendita Jong said that Rabies (infection through dog bites) is still alive in the community because this virus has started to infect and the idea of stopping it permanently is no longer possible, but how to take action and prevent this virus is that the community must stay away from dogs.
“We always provide counseling to the public to continue to prevent Rabies and continue to appeal to people who are bitten by dogs, to immediately wash their wounds with soap and water and most importantly to go to the Health Center immediately to get immediate treatment, because dog saliva contains the virus so that the victim is declared positive for rabies. Therefore, we continue to appeal to the public to stay away from animals, especially stray dogs, in order to prevent this disease.” said the Director of DNSV
She continued, based on the guidelines from Australia and other countries that she has, those who have been bitten by dogs must undergo treatment or must be vaccinated three times so that the virus that is almost mixed with the blood disappears, because if not vaccinated up to three times, the virus will mix with the person’s blood.
“Starting from January 13, 2024 to 2025, we have conducted dog vaccination outreach in the Timor-Leste region for 50,002 stray dogs that bit people and after testing the results were positive, we registered a total of 80 dogs, therefore we ask people who keep dogs to pay attention to dogs.” She said.
She added that since January to March 2025, they began to record Rabies cases, because relations with the border continued to be established so that animals were free to cross, especially dogs. Looking at Bobonaru, especially in Atabae Village, Maliana, Kailaku, Lolotoe which were affected by rabies cases, several people were bitten by dogs, not only in Bobonaru, but also in Suai at the Fatumeta Post, previously there were 6 cases of rabies, recently reported and increased by 3 cases in Suai-villa.
“We are talking about dogs that we vaccinate, we also vaccinate other animals such as monkeys and cats, especially monkeys that are pets of the community, the number of monkeys that we have vaccinated is more than 80 and the number of cats that we have vaccinated is more than 200, so that our community can avoid to infectious disease,” she continued.
She informed that from January to March, there were more than 10 new cases of dogs testing positive for rabies, the majority in Maliana-villa, followed by Kailaku, we recorded cases of dogs biting goats and pigs and the medical team conducted medical tests on the animals and they tested positive for the rabies virus, including in Suai.
“There are many medicines available to vaccinate dogs and other animals, as Australia supports medicines to treat and vaccinate these animals,” She added.
A message to the public, especially those who keep animals such as dogs, to always pay attention to their dogs, do not let them bite people, because dog saliva is bitter, if a dog bites, the victim is very easily infected with the rabies virus.
Reported by : Domingas
Picture by : Domingas