Anti-rabies Philippine state governor speaks out against eating dogs

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  January/February 2011:
Iloilo,  The Philippines—“Let us learn to be responsible dog owners and once and for all,  let us avoid eating dog meat,”  pleaded Iloilo provincial governor Arthur Defensor Sr. through the Panay News after the January 8,  2011 rabies death of a 38-year-old mother of two.

The dead woman and her sister were bitten by a rabid puppy on June 22,  2010.  The sister and three other family members received post-exposure vaccination,  but the dead woman refused the treatment.

Allocating a million pesos to stock clinics with post-exposure vaccine,  Defensor stressed that the Iloilo government will provide free rabies prevention treatment to anyone who needs it.

The possible association of the Iloilo case with eating dogs was unclear.  However,  rabies transmission in connection with eating or preparing dog meat,  once believed to be rare,  has within the past five years been documented in two cases in the the Philippines and two in Vietnam,  and is believed to have occurred in China and Nigeria.

As the means by which rabies victims become infected is often unknown,  while the regions where dogs are most often eaten coincide with the regions with the most human rabies deaths,  there is growing medical awareness that eating dogs may be a major unrecognized vector for rabies.