The deceased’s body being laid in a coffin at the SGH’s morgue this morning.
KUCHING: The Ministry of Health is in the midst of determining if a man who died at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) this morning had contracted the rabies virus.
When contacted, a senior officer from the ministry said the deceased’s blood samples had to be tested first at a laboratory before they could confirm if he had died as a result of being infected with the rabies virus.
“Once the laboratory reports are in, only then we can determine and confirm the cause of the man’s death, be it from the rabies virus or otherwise,” said the officer.
If so, that would make the man the 19th victim to succumb to the virus since the outbreak hit the state in 2017.
It was reported in See Hua Daily News online today that the deceased and his eight-year-old daughter were bitten by their pet dog in late June this year.
However, only the daughter received treatment at the hospital for the dog bite immediately after the incident.
The deceased reportedly did not disclose that he too had been bitten, and thus did not receive any treatment.
The report said it was only on Aug 2 did the victim seek treatment at a clinic in Kota Sentosa. He was later referred to SGH after showing symptoms of the virus.
The dog was also reportedly killed after it attacked the two family members.