By Leilanie G. Adriano
Staff reporter
LAOAG CITY—Vaccinators from the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) are reaching to Ilocos Norte’s rural barangays to ensure all dogs get an anti-rabies shot.
Amid the Holy Week season, Dr. Jeneveve Suliva of the PVO said they have a fully booked schedule this month and early next week for the massive dog vaccination drive.
On March 27, 2018, a team from the PVO conducted border control in Badoc town, said PVO chief Dr. Loida Valenzuela.
Until the end of March, the PVO is offering free dog vaccination and neutering at the PVO laboratory office.
This is in line with the declaration of the rabies awareness month through Executive Order No. 84 signed on March 13, 1999, by then President Joseph Estrada.
The massive dog vaccination and neutering is among the services of the PVO to achieve a zero-case of rabies by 2020.
Records from the National Rabies Prevention and Control program show there are approximately 300 to 600 Filipinos who die of rabies every year.
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute inflammation of the brain in humans and warm-blooded animals, with dogs being the most commonly involved.
Early signs include fever and tingling at the bite site, usually followed by violent excitability, a fear of water, paralysis in some parts of the body, or loss of consciousness. Once symptoms appear, the disease is nearly fatal. They usually show one to three months after the bite.