Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Health Director, Dr Esther Priscilla Biamah-Danquah, has stated that Kpone recorded 135 dog bites from January to August this year.

She stressed that the Municipality, since 2016 continues to record increasing cases of dog bites.

The statistics indicate that in 2018, the Municipality recorded 271 cases of dog bites; in 2019 the cases moved to 289, but reduced marginally to 243 cases in 2020.

Dr Biamah-Danquah said this during the celebration of World Rabies Day organised by the Kpone-Katamanso Municipal Assembly.

The Kpone Health Director said since September, 2020, six rabies cases among dogs were confirmed with 36 contacts among humans traced and one death recorded.

She stated, “I want to remind you that, these are cases reported in our health facility, bearing in mind that, there are a lot more cases within the communities which are unreported”.

She said high incidence of dog bite cases of which most of the dogs had not been vaccinated are one of the major challenges the Municipality is facing.

Dr Biamah-Danquah said the Ghana Health Service, Veterinary Service, and Environmental Service needed funds and logistics to enhance education on dog bites and rabies.

National Head of Epidemiology, Dr Danso Fenteng, said Ghana has recorded 27 outbreaks of rabies this year, out of which Kpone-Katamanso had 10 cases.

He said that there was an upsurge of rabies in dogs and humans after the free anti-rabies immunization campaign funded by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), which was implemented by the Veterinary Service Department in 1998.