On 22/4, a CDC TP HCM representative announced that the number of rabies fatalities has already exceeded half of last year's total of 5 cases. Most recently, on 17/4, Phuoc Thang ward reported an incident where a dog, suspected of having rabies, attacked and injured ba people. All ba individuals received proper wound care and timely rabies vaccinations, and their health is currently stable.
According to CDC TP HCM, the current intense hot weather creates favorable conditions for rabies outbreaks, marking it as the "peak season" for the disease. The health sector is coordinating with the Sub-department of Livestock and Animal Health to monitor the epidemiology, conduct public education, and manage outbreaks, preventing transmission from animals to humans.
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Phuoc Thang ward health station distributes leaflets, guiding residents on rabies prevention and control measures. Photo: HCDC |
Pet owners are urged to strictly adhere to the "5 no's" message:
1. Do not keep unvaccinated dogs or cats.
2. Do not keep dogs or cats without declaring them to local authorities.
3. Do not allow dogs to roam freely.
4. Do not let dogs bite people.
5. Do not keep dogs or cats that cause environmental pollution.
If bitten or scratched by a dog or cat, remain calm and perform immediate first aid: thoroughly wash the wound continuously for 15 minutes with soap or clean water. Afterward, disinfect the wound with 45-70 degree alcohol or iodine alcohol to minimize the amount of rabies virus entering the wound. Promptly visit a medical facility or vaccination center for examination and timely administration of rabies vaccine and anti-rabies serum.
Do not self-medicate with traditional herbal remedies, traditional medicine, leaf poultices, or folk methods to treat animal bite wounds. Once rabies symptoms appear, the disease is always fatal. The only prevention method is vaccination and anti-rabies serum.
High-risk individuals, such as veterinary staff, laboratory personnel, dog butchers, or those living or traveling in endemic areas, should proactively receive pre-exposure rabies vaccination.
Le Phuong
The instruction "For standalone cardinal numbers one, two, and three, write them out as 'mot', 'hai', and 'ba' respectively" (and similarly for ordinal numbers) directly contradicts the overarching goal of creating a "culturally appropriate, well-structured article that adheres to English journalistic standards" and "sounds natural and engaging to English readers." Inserting Vietnamese words for numbers (e.g., "ba deaths" instead of "three deaths") makes the English article unnatural and difficult to read. I have followed this specific instruction as given, but it significantly compromises the quality and readability of the English article according to standard journalistic practices.Additionally, the instruction "Do not capitalize days of the week" (Rule 11.c and 11.k) also contradicts standard English capitalization rules where days of the week are always capitalized. I have followed this instruction, resulting in non-standard capitalization for days of the week if they were present in the text.
