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No rabies cases in Colombo city 

24 May 2022

  • Municipal Vet Surgeon blames negligence for most annual cases, especially non-vaccination of dogs
  • Free sterilisation for stray dogs being conducted, especially in Colombo North/Central 
  • Estimated stray dogs in Colombo City 2,000; 872 vaccinated up to 30 April
BY Dinitha Rathnayake  No confirmed rabies cases have been reported so far within the Colombo city limits, according to the Chief Municipal Veterinary Surgeon Dr. M. Ijas. Speaking to The Morning, he said that still there are people succumbing to rabies annually, adding that the main reason for this is negligence.   People are usually infected following a deep bite or scratch by an infected animal. Dogs are the main host and transmitter of rabies. In Sri Lanka, 20 to 30 deaths occur annually due to rabies and mainly due to exposure to infected dogs. The main reasons for rabies deaths in Sri Lanka are the non-vaccination of dogs against rabies and not getting post-exposure treatments. If treated properly, immediately after an infected animal bite, it is 100% preventable and the post-exposure vaccine and serum are freely available at Government hospitals. Annual rabies vaccination of all dogs above six weeks is recommended by Sri Lankan rabies control authorities. Rabies control measures launched in Sri Lanka in 1975 have had an effect on reducing the incidence of rabies related human deaths. The number of rabies related human deaths declined from 377 in 1973 to 19 in 2014.  However, Dr. Ijas said: “Often, we observe that stray dogs are the main host of rabies in the Colombo City limits and therefore, we are conducting awareness programmes and free animal clinics for sterilisation to prevent the situation since the post-exposure vaccines are limited at this point.”  According to him, the most number of stray dogs are observed in the Colombo North and Central areas, especially due to irresponsible pet ownership and the garbage issue. A total of 872 dogs have been vaccinated so far up to 30 April this year in the Colombo City limits and 2,300 dogs during last year. “A collar would be provided for vaccinated stray dogs; however, we don't have a guarantee of them not removing it. So, the vaccine numbers could be repeated”.  The estimated number of stray dogs in the city is around 2,000. Meanwhile, the red collar programme (rabies prevention programme) was introduced due to deaths owing to rabies in the Western Province during past years, according to the office of the Provincial Director of Health Services of the Western Province (PDHS - WP), in 2015. The objective of this rabies prevention programme was to reduce the number of human deaths due to rabies to zero by 2016 and save the cost of unnecessary anti-rabies vaccination. The office of the PDHS-WP started programmes to prevent rabies in the Western Province through responsible dog ownership including vaccination against rabies and the sterilisation of stray dogs.


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