Narok county government has partnered with Mara North conservancy to vaccinate over 600 dogs in Ilmotiok ward, Narok west Sub County against the deadly rabies disease.
Narok West Veterinary Officer Mathew Nchoko said the move was motivated by the fact that the disease kills over 2,000 people in the country every year.
Nchoko underscored that the vaccination exercise was free of charge and aim at curbing the spread of the deadly disease that is mainly transmitted by infected dogs, cats or wild animals.
“We target over 70 per cent of dogs that live in the wildlife dominated area. We want to control the disease before it spreads because it’s fatal and once a person is bitten by a sick dog, chances of survival are almost nil,” he said.
The county government, he said, works closely with the non-state actors to ensure the community is well informed on rabies where they encourage the residents to visit the hospital immediately in case they are bitten by a dog.
The veterinary doctor called on residents to wash a dog bite wound for at least 15 minutes with running water before visiting the doctor immediately.
“Rabies is 100 percent preventable but 99 percent fatal. This is why we are here to encourage dog owners to vaccinate their dogs to prevent rabies,” he said.
Dr Yegon Kibet of Farming System Kenya, whose organisation was also involved in the vaccination campaign observed that many people do not take the disease seriously as the symptoms are first seen after 14 days, in humans, when it is too late to treat the disease.
“The fact is that a dog can take over one month before showing symptoms of rabies hence a dog owner can live with his dogs for over a month without it showing any sign of rabies,” he said.
He reiterated that the disease has high economic effects globally because of its high cost of treatment observing that in Kenya over 260 people die annually because of rabies.
“The best way to keep off rabies is by annual vaccination that can cost a farmer less than Sh 200. Treating rabies is very expensive as it can cost a person over Sh 10, 000,” he said, adding that an infected dog can transmit the disease to other domestic animals like cattle, donkeys and goats.
By Ann Salaton
