Jakarta (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The island of Bali, 3 million inhabitants and an important tourist destination worldwide, faces a serious outbreak of rabies, which has officially caused 78 dead in the last two years, but it is feared that the real figure is much higher. In an attempt to get to the root cause of the problem, local authorities have killed about 200 thousand dogs, a third of the island’s total,  without first carrying out a mass vaccination program as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Dogs are numerous in Bali, strays are used to living with humans without problems and are free to roam the streets and markets, receiving food from restaurants and people. There were no cases of rabies until November 2008, many think that it was brought by an infected dog from a nearby island. Now the island is struggling to cope with the disease. There is a shortage of vaccines, hospitals have limited facilities, pharmacies have stocks but they are too expensive for many residents. Moreover, the population is struggling to avoid dogs, their companions: according to the traditional faith of Bali, dogs bring people to heaven.

Janice Girardi, manager of the non-profit Bali Animal Welfare, which has vaccinated more than 45 thousand dogs, paints a dramatic picture and says that many people who have been bitten "go to the hospital and leave because there are no vaccines. Then they go home and die”, usually because they underestimate the disease.

Some foreign countries like Australia and the United States, recommended rabies vaccination to those who go to the island. Some tourists were bitten by dogs, but nobody has died. If action is taken immediately after the bite, which introduces infected saliva animal into the body, it is easy enough to cure the infection. But if symptoms arise, treatment is often ineffective. The disease incubates for a few weeks to months and shows little alarming early symptoms like those of a flu: fever, headache, fatigue, but which soon worsen to anxiety, difficulty breathing, to paralysis and coma.

Dr. Henry Wilde explains that it would not be impossible to curb the epidemic: the dogs are settled in their territory, it would be enough to vaccinate the entire village to create a solid barrier to infection.

Another problem is that the authorities do not want to give any publicity to the epidemic, for fear of losing visitors, which have already dropped in numbers after the bombings of 2002 and 2005.

According to the WHO, worldwide rabies kills 55 thousand people per year, mostly children, 60% of the victims were in Asia.