Two men in Bao'an District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province died from rabies in two
separate attacks by stray dogs, becoming Shenzhen's first recorded
rabies deaths in five years, according to Saturday's Shenzhen
Economic Daily.
Ma Hanwu, director of the municipal center of disease prevention
and control's (CDC) epidemic diseases department, said that the
cases should serve as a serious reminder to people who own a dog as
well as the general public, not to neglect any minor wound caused
by them or other animals.
One victim, surnamed Liu, 35, suffered a minor scratch on his
left leg through his pants Nov. 25 in Gongming Subdistrict.
However, there was no obvious wound on his leg, nor any bleeding.
Liu, unaware of the risk of contracting rabies, took little notice
of the scratch. However two days later, he began to feel
uncomfortable and displayed some rabies symptoms. He sought
treatment at Gongming Hospital and rabies was diagnosed. Liu was
then transferred and hospitalized in Donghu Hospital on Nov. 28.
But because he was late in seeking medical help, died on New Year's
Day, Ma said.
The other victim, identified as He, 48, was bitten on his left
hand by a stray dog in Gongming on Nov. 27. He did not visit a
doctor until almost a month later when he started feel pain in the
wound and his hand became numb. He was also told he had contracted
rabies and died two days later in Donghu Hospital.
Ma said neither victim sought immediate treatment after the
attacks, which could have minimized their chances of contracting
the disease.
Rabies is a deadly disease with a 100 percent mortality
rate.
The city's agriculture and forestry authorities banned 27 dog
breeds from residential, business and industrial areas in Shenzhen
in late November last year, in an attempt to protect the general
public from being attacked.
(Shenzhen Daily January 8, 2007)