Rabid dogs kill 137 over past two years
It is early afternoon in the peak tourist season and a woman has barricaded herself behind a shop counter on a busy street in Ubud, her nervous laughter quickly turning to shrieks of panic.
A stray dog has gone berserk inside her store, knocking over plastic chairs and taking a defensive position in the corner.
It takes two men to get it out. The dog is restrained and examined. The diagnosis: mad, but not rabies. You can't be too sure these days.
Mangy strays are as ubiquitous in Bali as braided hair and Bintang singlets. But the dogs now represent a much bigger threat for the tourist playground.
Since the latest outbreak of rabies began on the island two years ago, spreading to every major district, 137 people have died from the disease. The latest fatality was a young boy three weeks ago who had been bitten by a rabid dog.
It is a sensitive topic in a place that runs on tourism.
No tourists have died from rabies. But the hospitals in Bali are seeing a steady stream of Westerners coming in for rabies treatment after being bitten or scratched by stray dogs, cats or Ubud's famous monkeys.
In Sanglah Hospital's rabies clinic yesterday, a long queue of Balinese bite victims lined up for one of the three required doses of post-bite treatment.
Doctors aren't sure exactly how many people get treated for rabies across the island each day but in Sanglah's clinic alone - one of several hospitals in Denpasar dealing with rabies - 50 people walk through the doors every day.
Dr Putu Ekawati said there was no cure for rabies but the disease was fatal only for people who weren't vaccinated and didn't seek medical attention immediately in the critical few hours after being bitten.
But there are moves to wipe out the problem.
Phase one of an island-wide vaccination program finished a month ago, inoculating 238,000 dogs - more than 70 per cent of Bali's dog population.
According to the Bali Animal Welfare Association, which carried out the treatment, rabies fatalities almost halved between December and March compared with the same period 12 months earlier.
