ONE child and two adults died due to animal bites while there were 6,021 animal bite cases recorded in the province for the first four months of this year.
The fatalities include a four-year-old child from Consolacion town, northern Cebu, a 45-year-old from Moalboal town and a 67-year-old man from
Daanbantayan town, the province’s Animal Bite Treatment Center (ABTC) said.
This first quarter data is one case higher compared to the same period last year, when two minors – an eight-year-old from San Remigio and a four-year-old from Barili—died due to animal bites.
“Usually the victims haven’t received anti-rabies vaccine and they were bitten three or four months before but they didn’t seek treatment,” ABTC nurse Dominic Pagnipez said.
Dog bites were the most prevalent with 4,593 cases, followed by cat bites with 1,402 cases, and other animal bites with 22 cases.
About 3,123 victims were male while 2,899 were female. Also 3,367 victims were aged above 15 years old while 2,698 were below 15 years old.
The first quarter of last year recorded 5,920 animal bite cases.
The data didn’t include Metro Cebu whose local governments report directly to the Department of Health (DOH).
ABTC nursing attendant Madelaine Matchete said the victim should immediately wash the bite wound with soap and running water for at least 10 minutes and to immediately seek treatment afterward.
If possible, the animal that bit the victim should also be observed for 14 days to see if it has rabies./Correspondent