Who Let The Dogs Out?

Indeed El Nino took its toll by not only affecting our water and agricultural products but also increasing the incidence of dog bites. Since last week, I have at least one consultation of dog bite a day. Majority of the dogs that bit our patients was either owned by their friends or by their neighbors. Unfortunately, most of the dogs had no rabies vaccination and as expected the most common site of injury is the legs. So far, there is no sex or age preponderance based on our data.

Rabies has the highest case-fatality rate of any infectious disease. The rabies virus, which causes inflammation of the brain leading to paralysis, is transmitted through animal’s saliva. It enters the human body through animal bites or when a pet infected with rabies licks a person’s skin with wounds or breaks.

Good thing that our city and municipal health offices and our government hospitals right now have enough supply of rabies vaccines. But for me, as a physician, prevention is still better than cure thus I would like to remind everyone that we should have our dogs vaccinated especially El Nino is getting worst.

Actually, there is a correlation between cases of dog bites and rising temperature according to a research published in the March 2009 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In fact, the author suggests that it may be due to a general increase in the irritability of dogs during the warmer months. Furthermore, the author adds that families should be made aware of the increased likelihood of dog bite injuries during summer months.

Since we are expecting a long summer this year because of El Nino, I would like to share to you some simple tips that I believed could help our dogs to cool down during this very hot season. First, we should always make sure that our dogs have available water to drink inside their cage all the time. Second, we should bathe our dogs as often as possible. And third, we should not allow our dogs to roam around without leash.

Finally my dear friends, always remember that our responsibility doesn’t only end to our dogs but also to the people around us. According to R.A. 9482 Anti-Rabies Act of 2007, in case our dog bit somebody, it is our responsibility to assist the dog bite victim immediately and shoulder the medical expenses incurred and other incidental expenses relative to the victims injury. So in order to avoid this accident to happen, be a responsible pet owner.