Rabies prevention measures are being taken after two cases of rabid animals attacking humans were reported last week in Yunlin County and Chiayi County, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
A 79-year-old woman was injured by a rabid ferret-badger in Yunlin’s Gukeng Township (古坑) on Wednesday last week, while a 78-year-old man in Chiayi’s Chungpu Township (中埔) was bitten by a rabid ferret-badger on Thursday last week.
The two cases are the fourth and fifth instances of rabid ferret-badgers attacking human this year, with the animals found to be infected with the disease on Saturday, bureau Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said.
The two septuagenarians — and the woman’s dogs that were bitten by the ferret-badger during a fight — were immediately inoculated with rabies and tetanus vaccines and have been instructed to remain under home quarantine for 45 days since the incident, Shih said.
Hundreds of rabid animals, predominantly ferret-badgers, have been reported since rabies reappeared in Taiwan in July 2013 following a hiatus of 52 years.
There were four incidents of rabid ferret-badgers biting humans last year, but five cases have already been reported this year, sparking fears of an outbreak.
“The bureau has kept the disease from spreading beyond mountainous areas, and it is increasing efforts to develop an oral vaccine for ferret-badgers against rabies, which is expected to be completed and administered by the middle of this year to prevent a potential outbreak,” Shih said
The bureau plans to put doses of live virus vaccine lace into bait for the ferret-badgers, he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 16,600 people were scratched or bitten by dogs, cats, rats or other animals last year. People injured by animals are told to identify the species and if possible confine them to discover whether they are carrying diseases.
Pet owners are required to have their animals inoculated against rabies every year according to the Statute fro the Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease (動物傳染病防治條例).
Rabies transmissions between people and animals can be effectively contained if the vaccination rate among cats and dogs is more than 70 percent, the bureau said.
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