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Indonesia, Bali: Rabies Outbreak

Documentary photo story posted on 22 February 2010 by Johannes P Christo


“In December 2008, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture reported a rabies outbreak in dogs on the island of Bali, Indonesia, to the World Organization for Animal Health.  As of October 2009, the Indonesia Ministry of Health has reported 15 deaths caused by rabies on Bali.  Most human and animal rabies cases have been confirmed near popular tourist destinations on the southern tip of Bali.” CDC, October 2009.

Rabie, a virus which infects the nerve cells and causes inflammation of the brain, can be transmitted through a bite from infected animals, mostly dogs.

More than 500,000 dogs live on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. First discovered in November 2008, four people had been found bitten by an untamed dog, later on the dog was found carrying rabies virus. Two of four victims had been positively infected by rabies. Since then the Indonesian Government has declared Bali a pandemic area. The cases are widely and rapidly spread across the island. In the end of 2009, dog bites to humans had been recorded to reach 16,680 cases including 25 infected victims died. This is the biggest number in recorded history in Indonesia.

The provincial government of Bali has been struggling to overcome the outbreak, several options have been attempted, such as eliminating untamed dogs. Since late 2008 until early 2010, 49.095 untamed and suspected dogs have been mass culled.

Pet dogs which have been well-cared for by their owner obtains a free of charge vaccine from the government to prevent the spreads of the virus. So far 170.962 dogs have been vaccinated or 35% of the total estimated dogs in Bali.


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4 Comments »

  1. great shots which show the danger of the disease. If they cull the wild dogs they should be able to get the disease under control. I hope so anyway.

    //tempo dulu
    22 February 2010 at 6:49 am

  2. Hello,

    Several options have not been attempted. The only option taken has been to kill dogs and vaccinate some minimal percent of owned dogs whose owners brought them to a central vaccination point. Actually culling of dogs in Bali is exactly the wrong approach to stop a rabies epidemic and the government has had recommendations since the beginning of the outbreak in 2008 by WHO, CDC and other international rabies experts as to why culling does not work to stop rabies. The only way to stop rabies is to vaccinate 70% of all dogs with a good vaccine. Most of the dogs that have been vaccinated in Bali are no longer protected because they were vaccinated with an inferior quality nerve tissue vaccine with an immunity of only 3 months. So the claimed 170,000 dogs is really probably under 20 or 30,000 with any lasting immunity.

    The only dogs that should be culled are dogs that have rabies, or unvaccinated dogs that have been bitten by rabid dogs. Vaccinated dogs act as a ring barrier to rabies. They protect our environment. If they are bitten, they will not succumb to the disease. Now that many areas have had dogs inhumanely and indiscriminately killed with strychnine (which is banned in most of the world) we are wide open to a rabid dog entering our villages and biting people and other dogs. In Flores they beat 300,000 dogs to death in a 3 year period and they still have rabies. The only difference is in Flores they actually had enough vaccines to protect the population of people. Many of those who have died is because of lack of information disseminated about rabies wound care and the importance of prophylaxis and also from lack of vaccines.

    //Wendyl
    6 March 2010 at 1:46 pm

  3. Excellent photography. And it’s good to know that well-cared for pet dogs can receive the vaccine from the government free of charge.

    The reason this is a good idea is because culling or killing dogs has never worked anywhere in the world. Never. And there is no reason to think it will be any different in Bali. The World Health Organization states that the only known way to stop a rabies epidemic is to vaccinate at least 70% of the dogs.

    Vaccinating dogs is also the least expensive way to stop the epidemic. Treating people who have been bitten by a dog costs many hundreds of dollars and a vaccination costs less than $3.00.

    The more vaccinated dogs there are in Bali the sooner the rabies epidemic will end.

    //Shane
    8 April 2010 at 10:20 am

  4. This is an interesting problem. In the US we would say, cull the rabid ones and protect the rest. This is a VERY different culture from our own.

    Imagine a country where the majority (75-80%) of the population is impoverished. Imagine an island culture which is primarily Hindu, a karma culture, and mystics. Imagine a corrupt government.

    Here the most of the dogs run free, regardless of ownership. The cultural beliefs, poverty, and lack of education cause the inhabitants to not control/maintain healthy dogs or dog populations.

    This is more than a simple vaccination issue. Yes vaccinating and culling will solve the immediate problem, but the greater issues are the government policies, cultural ideals and lack of education.

    //Ashley
    2 July 2010 at 1:27 am

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