Schoolboy Dies of Rabies as Man Loses Finger in Attack.

BULELENG/DENPASAR

A 12-year-old boy from Buleleng died of rabies this week, after being bitten by a dog and failing to receive post-bite vaccination.

He is the latest victim of Bali’s rabies crisis that broke out in southern areas in late 2008 and has killed around 130 people. The boy’s death came as news emerged that a Frenchman was savagely attacked by a pack of suspected rabid dogs in Jimbaran, leading to the loss of a finger.

Putu Surya Wiranta, a pupil at the local elementary school in Dencarik, Buleleng, was taken to the main Buleleng hospital on Monday suffering from fever and a fear of water.

His family told doctors he had been bitten by a dog while walking home from school about five months ago, but had not told anyone at the time and therefore had received no treatment.

He died shortly after being brought to the hospital.

“After a medical examination, we found that the he had been exposed to rabies having previously been bitten by a dog, and not seeking early treatment,” said director of Buleleng Hospital Dr Nyoman Mardana.

Meanwhile, the French citizen was attacked by stray dogs in Jimbaran on Monday, losing a finger and risking exposure to rabies. He will have the costs of emergency treatment and vaccination covered by the authorities, officials said.

Frederick Carrlen, 40, who is resident in Bali, was walking with his pet dog near his home in the Puri Gading housing complex in Jimbaran when he was attacked by five strays. One of his fingers was bitten off in the attack.

His wife, Peni Candrawati, recovered the detached digit but doctors at Denpasar’s Sanglah Hospital, where Carrlen was taken for treatment, were unable to reattach it.

The head of the Bali Animal Husbandry Department, Made Badra, said on Tuesday it was the first attack by dogs on a foreigner.

A previous island-wide culling of stray dogs — the main viral container whose numbers are estimated in the hundreds of thousands — was shelved last September in favour of a dog-vaccination scheme backed by foreign animal welfare groups.


(x the Bali Times)