The Information office of the Ministry of Public Health issued the following statement:

After the repeated warnings issued by the MoPH regarding the unvaccinated domestic or stray dogs and the cases of scratches and bites, and following the statements and the preventive measures through the media on the prevention of rabies, the number of victims is still increasing.

Following the investigation, most of the cases were found to be resulted mainly from the recklessness of the pet’s owners, as to their vaccination, the number of cases exceeding 55%. The other cause being the stray dogs that are not controlled by the Municipality and the Ministry of Agriculture.

After submitting more than one letter to the concerned parties, the Ministry of Public Health sounds the alarm in view of the growing danger. The number of bite victims is unprecedented in Lebanon and the imported vaccines cannot satisfy the needs given the global shortage. The MoPH insists on addressing the root cause before the result, since the rabies leads to fatal death if the treatment was not given.

The Ministry holds responsible all the dog owners who refrain from vaccinating their dogs, threatening the lives of the citizens and will take all legal actions in case a citizen was injured as a result of this recklessness.