The country is currently suffering from a rabies outbreak with 3 people dead over the past few months and a child gravely ill. Salud Publica are currently touring the country vaccinating all dogs who do not have the rabies vaccine free of charge. They use one needle for all the dogs, and many die following the vaccination. If you have non rabies vaccinated dogs I suggest you get them vaccinated by your vet asap, or buy the vaccine at an agrovet and do it yourself, as you have no choice if Salud Publica turn up at your home and your dog has not been vaccinated.
https://www.elcaribe.com.do/2018/12...a-es-el-mayor-registrado-en-la-ultima-decada/
Matilda
I dont know if i happen to ba specific case, but
salud publica, a ) wont go near my dogs, and b) actually give us vaccine + syringe and needle, 1 for each dog, free of charge.
They also seem to have a big supply of syringes and needles.
My only complaint is that the needles are very flimsy, and cant pierce the skin on 2 of my dogs
As for where the infected dogs/animals come from.....lol, very convinient.......
I have only witnessed once, in 10 years, a round up of stray dogs, for vaccination. I would also say there are at least as many stray ( border line feral ) dogs in my campo, than domestic ones.
If the dr was real serious about this " problem ", why dont they go the ORV ( food pellets with oral vaccine ) route. It was done, with success in switzerland, to wipe out rabies in red foxes.
I posted a story a while back about a dog bite, rabies and salud publica. And their reaction actually surprised me.
I think the consensus is, world wide, that an animal with rabies is flagrant enough ( as in, you are attacked by a rabid animal ), so the real risk is being bitten by a dog ( or another animal ) that is contaminated but hasnt develloped the illness yet, but the window is quite small ( between the dog being infected and it develloping rabies ).
They actually turned up at my house to collect/capture the dog that bit me ( a big misunderstanding, as it was my dog ), and their protocol was , 1) observe the dog, 2) if in doubt, cut its head off and send to SD for testing ( not kidding ), 3) only then, if dog was rabid, would you then be vaccinated.