Specialist doctors from the private sector pointed out that for six months the authorized distributor of this drug “does not have it.” Specialists urge the Ministry of Health to explain what is happening and what alternatives it offers.
Through social networks, a Salvadoran echoed the shortage of rabies vaccines that is currently found and that affects the health sector at the national level. Situation he faced after being bitten by an animal and seeking medical help.
The social media user explained that the fourth dose should be placed; however, there were no units available for its application in public health centers or private care clinics.
“I am looking for where to get the anti-rabies vaccine but since yesterday (July 3) they tell me that there is none in the public system… does anyone know if there is one in a Health unit? I already asked privately and they don’t have either… ”, she wrote on his profile, calling on health personnel and the general population to identify if any hospital or health center had doses available.
After consulting doctors in the private area, they confirmed the shortage. “At this moment at the country level, the distributor of the anti-rabies vaccine does not have, therefore neither at the private level nor at the level of the Ministry of Health there are anti-rabies vaccines,” said the specialist in infectious diseases, Iván Solano Leiva.
Solano pointed out that private clinics are completely dependent on local distributors, but that the Ministry of Health must have the resources to obtain the drug through the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Revolving Vaccine Fund, if there were shortages in all the health centers.
Photo EDH/EFE
“There is an apparent shortage and we do not know if there are no vaccines at all, because when there are none in private, the only alternative is public health. What is requested is that there be a pronouncement: What is happening? Because with the rabies vaccine we are talking about people’s lives, in the case of these people it means that the duration of the defenses generated will last much less”, added the infectologist Jorge Panameño.
Because this information cannot be openly consulted by the population, the doctor added: “I would hope that they explain to the population what is happening if there are no vaccines, what alternatives are offered to the population. Because the only way is for them to tell us (Ministry of Health)”.
CONSULTATION TO THE MINSAL:
Until the closing of this note, an attempt was made to establish communication with said State portfolio to corroborate the information and find out the supply rate of the aforementioned drugs. However, the outlet was sent to the communications area of the Presidency, from which no response was obtained.
Specifically in the case of the anti-rabies drug “if there is no vaccine, the alternative is to die of rabies.”
After consulting with a patient who asked not to be identified, he explained that in his case he was bitten by an unknown dog, but at the time of being vaccinated he was only given anti-rabies serum, later he was sent to the nearest health center “with a referral for evaluation of vaccination, because the insurance is not vaccinating due to lack of vaccines”.
When trying to corroborate this information, a health worker confirmed to this medium anonymously that currently “they issued the instruction that doctors cannot prescribe anti-rabies vaccines, but that patients should be sent to the health unit for evaluation. Taking the criteria away from the Social Security emergency doctor,” she stated.
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This source stressed that “Hopefully and God forbid that six months from now we are dealing with cases of human rabies. We are facing an imminent risk factor for not having the vaccine. The anti-rabies serum is only an enhancer, but the one that does the most important part is the vaccine in its four doses”.
An incomplete vaccination picture is a patient without the necessary defenses to fight the virus, “there is no mild rabies, whoever gets rabies dies, period”
A report published by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) indicates that the disease is present on all continents and affects more than 150 countries. In the world, the disease is responsible for about 60,000 human deaths annually and in the vast majority of human cases, the dog is the source of transmission.
The regional surveillance system indicates that in 2022 at least 23 people lost their lives after being bitten by animals such as dogs, cats and other mammals.
Rabies is a disease that affects all mammals, whether domestic or wild, and is transmitted through contact with infected saliva through bites or scratches. The vast majority of cases in humans is that a dog is the source of transmission.
According to data from PAHO, the Americas have managed to drastically reduce the incidence of human rabies transmitted by dogs to about 98%, with around 300 cases in 1983, to 2 human cases transmitted by dogs in 2020.
However, in recent years, rabies in humans transmitted by wild animals has become more important, with the blood-sucking bat (Desmodus rotundus) being the main transmitter.
Currently, in the region one million people exposed to the risk of rabies receive post-exposure prophylaxis each year. In addition, about 100 million dogs are vaccinated each year in vaccination campaigns against rabies in the American continent.
Symptoms
The first symptoms of rabies in humans are usually very similar to those of the flu, starting with a general malaise, headache and fever, and patients may present pain or itching in the area where they were bitten. These symptoms can last several days.
If patients are not treated in time they can progress to brain dysfunction, anxiety, confusion and agitation. As time progresses, the situation becomes critical and the person may present delusions, hallucinations, abnormal behavior, hydrophobia, and insomnia.
The acute period of the disease ends between 2 and 10 days. But once clinical signs of rabies appear, in untreated patients, the disease is almost always fatal.
2023-07-08 04:34:00
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