Rabies outbreak

[Cdn_Gringo]

Vaccine and immunoglobulin are available at subsidized pricing to developing countries but it is still an expensive compliment of drugs.

I read that the country's rabies centre is closed for renovation so administering the vaccine has fallen to hospitals and clinics. It is not something that is used routinely so I am sure some administrators decide to save money and not stock it. I do not know if the DR Govt provides the treatment to clinics at wholesale prices or free of charge.

Rabies is usually fatal in humans if treatment isn't administered before the onset of symptoms. When you need it, you need it and it should be available. I also suspect, those who can pay have an easier time getting the whole treatment. It's available in the DR just not at the central location that most would know about and clearly not every hospital/clinic has a supply on hand.

https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20180220/the-high-cost-of-surviving-rabies

 

[dv8]

I wonder if the reason for the lack of post-exposure vaccine is due to cost?

the cost to the patient is zero. salud publica administers it completely free of charge. if they have it, that is. i think the lack of the vaccine is SP centers is less an issue of its cost to the government and more of distribution and storage.

 

[Auryn]

They had best get on that, if there is an outbreak of that size in Pedernales.

 

[malko]

They had best get on that, if there is an outbreak of that size in Pedernales.

I think the article states that 255 people were bitten or scratched by animals that could possibly transmit rabies. Not that the 255 people were bitten by rabid animals.

 

[beachcomber]

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic.- Approximately 255 people in Pedernales have been scratched, licked or bitten by a warm-blooded animal, so far in 2018. The contact with the animals has been mainly by dogs and cats; reported the Ministry of Public Health of the Dominican Republic.

Bites and scratches by warm-blooded animals are the main causes of human rabies transmission.

According to the statistics these are the number of people affected in Pedernales per month, being the months of July, August and December those of greater incidence:

January eleven July 33
February 6 August 66
March 7 September 22
April 12 October 6
May eleven November 22
June twenty-one December 38
Noticias SIN received the Care Guide or Protocol for patients with bites from dogs or other animals transmitting rabies, to clarify doubts and know how to prevent and act in case of having any contact with animals that may have rabies.

Guide to Attention to Aggressed Patients- last revision 06-09-2013

 

[wuarhat]

I think the article states that 255 people were bitten or scratched by animals that could possibly transmit rabies. Not that the 255 people were bitten by rabid animals.

Well if they don't have the head of the biter then that's 255 people that need the treatment. If you wait for symptoms to be sure then you're as good as dead.

 

[malko]

Well if they don't have the head of the biter then that's 255 people that need the treatment. If you wait for symptoms to be sure then you're as good as dead.

Well, yes, but the whole point of the campaign to vaccinate domestic animals is to minimize the risk of humans catching rabies.
As humans will mainly be exposed to the scratches and bites of domestic animals ( ie cats and dogs ), so if they are immune, they cant catch from a wild animal and cant transmit it onwards.

Then, of the 255 people concerned, only a fraction were bitten by a rat or bat, and those are the people that would need the treatment.

Granted, it is the optimal case secenario.