Timor-Leste has welcomed 10,000 rabies vaccines donated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the southeast Asian nation races to contain an outbreak of the deadly disease, Lusa reports.
“Timor-Leste is now facing a very urgent threat from a disease that was almost unknown in the country,” Arvind Mathur, the WHO representative in Dili, told the Portuguese news agency. From the first human rabies case in March 2024, recorded in the isolated exclave of Oecusse, the disease is now affecting seven municipalities and has caused six deaths.
“It is now a race against time to stop the disease,” Mathur warned. “Vaccination is the strongest weapon we have, both to prevent the disease and to save lives after exposure.”
The WHO donated 10,000 rabies vaccines and 1,000 doses of anti-rabies immune globulin to Timor-Leste last Friday. Local authorities and the WHO also launched a new awareness campaign in Bobonaro, the district with the highest number of animal cases, focusing on 18 schools with plans to expand to communities.
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The Island of Timor, split between Timor-Leste and the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Timur, has long been rabies-free despite the disease being endemic in 26 Indonesian provinces on neighbouring islands.
Nusa Tenggara Timur recorded its first human rabies case in May 2023, prompting Timorese officials to launch a public awareness campaign followed by a mass dog, cat and monkey vaccination programme in January 2024. Oecusse, on the Indonesian side of the island, and the border municipalities of Cova Lima and Bobonaro were of particular concern.
Oecusse saw the first human rabies case in the country in March 2024, a 19-year-old girl bitten by a dog that had become unusually aggressive. Between April 2024 and last June, 1,445 cases of dog bites were recorded in the country, causing six deaths. Three in Oecusse, including that first case, two in Bobonaro and one in neighbouring Ermera. Seeking help immediately after a bite is essential, as treatment is only effective before symptoms set in.
A circular issued by the government in July urged residents to keep dogs, cats and monkeys inside, especially if they live in affected communities. It also banned the transport of these animals between municipalities, including Oecusse and Ataúro Island, and the entry of animals from abroad into the country. Authorities are also slaughtering stray dogs and cats to prevent the disease becoming endemic.
