Bali Establishes Rabies Alert Teams

The Denpasar City Agriculture Service recently announced villages/sub-districts in Bali Province to form a Rabies Alert Team to suppress cases of rabies transmission in the capital city of Bali Province.

It is estimated that there are 82,195 rabies-transmitting animals in Denpasar City, Indonesia, as of September 2023.

Announced on November 21, 2023, the Head of the Denpasar City Agriculture Service, A.A. Bayu Brahmasta, informed reporters, “The Rabies Alert Team will be tasked with providing education and outreach to the community.”

This news comes from TheBaliSun, which reported two additional residents who live near Keramas Beach were bitten by a dog that has gone on to test positive for rabies.

According to the U.S. CDC, dog rabies outbreaks have been active in Bali since 2008.

Bali is an often-visited destination, hosting over 4.8 million international visitors over the past year.

Each year throughout the world, rabies, a viral disease of mammals, kills approximately 50,000 people, primarily children. It is almost always spread by an animal bite but can also be spread when a rabid animal’s saliva gets directly into the eyes, nose, mouth, or broken skin.

The primary source of human infection worldwide is dogs. However, in the U.S., bats are the source of most rabies infections in 2023.

The CDC says that if your activities bring you into contact with animals, you should consider pre-exposure rabies vaccination, a multi-dose series given before departure overseas.

Even if you receive pre-exposure vaccination, you will still need immediate medical treatment if you are bitten or scratched by an animal.

The good news is human rabies is rare in the U.S., averaging about three cases annually since 2000.

In the U.S., rabies vaccines are available in 2023.