Hoang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health, said among the diseases transmitted from animals to humans, rabies is the most dangerous, with the highest mortality rate. Thirty out of 63 centrally run cities and provinces record rabies cases, with the highest proportion seen in March, April and August.

Rabies is a preventable disease as there are vaccines, but the number of deaths of rabies remains high, about 70 cases a year. Twenty-seven deaths were reported in the first three months of 2024.

Duc said Vietnam has to spend VND800 billion a year to buy vaccines and anti-rabies serum for humans. The amount of money doesn’t include treatment costs for other wounds caused by dog and cat bites.

Many people fear that rabies vaccines may cause side effects and tend to use therapies not recognized by the Ministry of Health. 

Meanwhile, vaccines are expensive, VND1.2-1.5 million per treatment. This is a burden on the poor, ethnic minority people, and residents in remote areas.

The Department of Animal Health under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), said there are 7.6 million dogs and cats, mostly in Hanoi (425,000), Nghe An (355,000), and Thanh Hoa (322,000). 

In 2023, the vaccination rate throughout the country was 58 percent of total dogs and cats. The rate remains low, while the control over dogs and can remains problematic. 

In many localities, dogs and cats left without a muzzle or leash can be seen everywhere, thus increasing the risks of dogs and cats biting people, which leads to rabies.

A report from the National Children's Hospital in late 2023 showed that 271 cases had to take anti-rabies serum injection in the first nine months of the year, 70 percent of whom were from Hanoi and 68 percent of them children aged below 15.

A report showed that besides rabies, 75 percent of dangerous epidemics are diseases transmitted from animals to humans, or have genetic origins from animal diseases.

Vietnam is one of the ‘hot spots’ in transmittable epidemics, including ones transmitted from animals to humans, such as A H5N1, SARS, rabies, anthrax, plague, and parasites.

MARD has warned that the risk of disease transmission from animals to humans still exists, recommending that local authorities fully deploy necessary measures to prevent epidemics.

Phuong Thuy