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14 Caraga LGUs declared rabies-free

By Alexander Lopez

March 14, 2023, 6:33 pm

<p><strong>ANTI-RABIES DRIVE</strong>. Dr. Esther Cardeño (center), the regional animal welfare administrator of the Department of Agriculture 13 (Caraga), bares Tuesday (March 14, 2023) the intensified anti-rabies drive after a high rabies positivity rate was recorded in the area since January this year. A positivity rate of 38 percent, compared to the 33 percent recorded from Jan. to Dec. 2022, was logged from January to March this year. <em>(PNA photo by Alexander Lopez)</em></p>

ANTI-RABIES DRIVE. Dr. Esther Cardeño (center), the regional animal welfare administrator of the Department of Agriculture 13 (Caraga), bares Tuesday (March 14, 2023) the intensified anti-rabies drive after a high rabies positivity rate was recorded in the area since January this year. A positivity rate of 38 percent, compared to the 33 percent recorded from Jan. to Dec. 2022, was logged from January to March this year. (PNA photo by Alexander Lopez)

BUTUAN CITY – At least 14 local government units (LGUs) in the Caraga Region have been declared rabies-free, an official said Tuesday.

In a press briefing here, Dr. Esther Cardeño, the regional animal welfare coordinator of the Department of Agriculture (DA) 13 (Caraga), seven of the LGUs are from Dinagat Islands province, six in Surigao del Norte, and a city in Surigao del Sur.

Cardeño said the DA-13 is also intensifying its anti-rabies awareness drive after a high rabies positivity rate was noted in the region since January.

“A 38 percent positivity rate is recorded in the first three months this year, compared to the 33 percent recorded in the whole year of 2022,” Cardeño said.

Of the 22 samples received in the past three months, she said eight have turned positive for rabies infection.

Last year, Cardeño said only 33 percent of the 92 samples taken to their office turned positive for rabies infection.

“We are strengthening our coordination with the LGUs, especially in the information drives to encourage residents to have their pets vaccinated,” Cardeño said.

She also bared that from January to date, a high number of rabies cases were monitored in eight towns and a city in the region, though she declined to name them.

The affected LGUs had been notified of the increased incidence of rabies in their localities, she added.

“As we celebrate Rabies Awareness Month, our main goal is to control, if not, totally eradicate rabies infections in the region,” Cardeño said.

In 1999, former president Joseph Ejercito Estrada issued an order declaring March each year as Rabies Awareness Month. (PNA)

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