A six-year-old boy in Gia Lai Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region, has died of rabies after being bitten by his family’s dog three months ago, the Gia Lai Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed on Friday.

The boy, identified as T.D.M.C and residing in Duc Co District, was the 14th person who succumbed to rabies in this upland province this year.

A Gia Lai CDC report showed that the boy was not vaccinated against rabies after he was bitten by the dog.

His parents told local doctors that they did get their boy vaccinated against rabies, because he just got minor scratches from the dog, which also scratched three other family members.

The CDC report revealed that C. had a fever on December 20 and developed such rabies symptoms as fatigue, loss of appetite, a fear of water and wind, and seizures.

On December 21, his family took him to a local hospital where doctors briefed them on his severe health conditions and they then asked for the doctors’ permission to bring him home, where he passed away at 3:00 pm the same day.

To cope with a rising number of rabies cases, the health authorities in Gia Lai ramped up their efforts to raise public awareness about the fatal disease and call on people to get rabies vaccine shots if they are bitten, scratched or have contact with dogs with possible rabies.

Dog owners should also keep their animals leashed and muzzled, as well as get them vaccinated against rabies periodically.

In the provincial capital city of Pleiku, the administration of Tay Son Ward pioneered setting up a team to tackle free-roaming dogs and other animals with confirmed or probable rabies in the area to ensure public health and safety.

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