Sri Lanka faces Rabies Outbreak Due to Vaccine Scarcity
According to health officials, due to a lack of vaccines, rabies may spread quickly in Sri Lanka in 2023.
L.D. Kithsiri, the director of public health veterinary services, told the media that the districts of Kandy, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Colombo, and Gampaha have no vaccinations in storage facilities.
According to Mr. Kithsiri, rabies claimed the lives of 28 persons in 2022; 17 of the deaths were caused by dog bites.
Using the leftover vaccines at other regional storage facilities, we are conducting vaccination programs through February. From February, there won’t be any vaccinations,” he declared.
Over a million canines were sterilized and immunized in 2022, according to Mr. Kithsiri, who also noted that 40,000 of those dogs were female.
40,000 of the over a million canines that were sterilized and given vaccinations in 2022, according to Mr. Kithsiri, who also noted that there is “no lack of vaccines supplied to humans who are hospitalized, but this might change fairly fast if rabies spreads among dogs.”
According to WHO data, Sri Lanka‘s excellent vaccination campaign has successfully decreased human rabies mortality from 377 in the middle of the 1970s to 31 in 2021.
