Filipino worker in Taiwan dies from rabies

In a follow up to a story earlier this month, officials from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said the Filipino worker who contracted rabies in the Philippines has died from the viral disease in a hospital in southern Taiwan, according to a Focus Taiwan news report Sunday.

Image/CDC

The 31-year-old Filipino man apparently received a dog bite on March 10 and never sought out rabies prophylaxis. He arrived in Taiwan in early April and starting experiencing early symptoms of rabies at the beginning of May.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw said the man was being treated for his illness in an intensive care unit at the hospital in Pingtung County.

The body has been cremated as required by law, since rabies is a class-one notifiable disease in Taiwan and is almost 100 percent fatal, Chou said.

The patient was this year’s first imported rabies case in Taiwan, which has reported no domestic human cases since 1959 and no domestic animal cases since 1961.

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