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Aisyah Llewellyn

In a quieter part of western Bali, far from the crowds and chaos of the south, a 38-year-old housewife was bitten by a stray cat while hanging out laundry in May.
Within weeks, she was dead: one of five people killed by rabies on the Indonesian resort island so far this year.
The following month, a rabid dog kept as a family pet in the same region, Jembrana regency, attacked two children and an adult. All three survived, thanks to swift post-exposure vaccination after tests confirmed that the animal was infected.
But they were far from the only victims. Between January and May 2026 alone, almost 30,000 people on the Hindu-majority island were bitten by suspected rabid animals and 21,000 received emergency vaccinations.
Bali, together with East Nusa Tenggara province around 600km (370 miles) to the east, has the highest number of rabies cases in the whole of Indonesia, according to its Health Ministry. The viral disease is considered endemic in 26 of Indonesia’s 38 provinces.

“Mass vaccination is urgently needed given the relatively high number of rabies cases recorded in Jembrana during the first half of this year,” I Gusti Ngurah Putu Sugiarta, the regency’s top animal health official, said in a statement following the latest attack.
In the first six months of this year, 33 animals were confirmed to be infected with rabies in the regency, local media outlet Kompas reported.
Sugiarta’s advice to the public was to keep pets contained, seek medical help immediately after any bite and report animals behaving strangely to health authorities without delay.
Rabies, a viral disease transmitted through the saliva of infected animals, attacks the nervous system and inflames the brain. Left untreated, it is almost universally fatal once symptoms emerge, yet it is entirely preventable with timely post-exposure vaccination.
“In Bali, rabies has been endemic since 2008, as there is a large population of roaming stray dogs,” Dr Ria Widya Marosa, an internal medicine doctor at Mitra Medika Premiere General Hospital in Medan, told This Week in Asia. “Human-animal interaction is very high, and the case reporting system is very active.”
Across Indonesia more broadly, the risk of contracting rabies was “significant” but uneven, she said, concentrated in pockets where stray animals roam freely and healthcare access lags behind.
The best way to prevent the spread of rabies is to educate the public
Dr Hadi Syahputra, veterinarian
Bali recorded 16 rabies deaths last year, in addition to this year’s five, according to the island’s health authority.
Health experts urge anyone bitten or scratched by a suspected infected animal to wash the wound thoroughly and immediately seek medical care.
“The main point is not to wait, because once symptoms such as fear of water manifest, recovery or survival is usually not possible,” Ria said, referring to hydrophobia, one of rabies’ most infamous and distressing late-stage symptoms.
Another common misconception about rabies was that only dogs had it, said Dr Hadi Syahputra, a veterinarian and owner of KucingKu Pet Care in Medan.
Cats, bats, monkeys and other mammals could transmit the virus too, he said, “although it is primarily wild or stray dogs that carry it”.
“There is rabies all over Indonesia and it can be extremely dangerous,” Hadi told This Week in Asia. “If you suspect that your pet has rabies, you should immediately bring it to a clinic where it can have a full medical evaluation and blood tests.”
Once late-stage symptoms such as excess salivation and light sensitivity appeared in an infected animal, “then it is always fatal”, he said.
Prevention was possible through vaccination in the first three to six months of a pet’s life, Hadi said, further calling on Indonesian authorities to pursue vaccination drives and public awareness campaigns to halt the virus’ spread.

For the millions of tourists who visit Bali each year, the recent surge in rabies cases raises an obvious question: should travellers be worried?
Not unduly, according to Dr Masra Lena Siregar, a consultant in infectious diseases and tropical medicine at Dr Zainoel Abidin Regional General Hospital in Banda Aceh.
“There is no need to be afraid … not all animals can or do contract rabies,” she said. “What matters is understanding the risk and preventing exposure to risk factors.”
Masra explained that these risk factors included whether visitors spent their time mostly indoors or out, and whether their itinerary brought them into close contact with animals such as beach dogs and temple monkeys.
“If you are travelling to Bali, first line prevention involves avoiding exposure to bites from rabies-transmitting animals,” she said, further stressing that anyone who was bitten should seek immediate medical treatment after washing the wound thoroughly with soap and water.
It is, in essence, the same message local health officials have been repeating all year: awareness and speed, not panic, are what stand between a bite and a tragedy.
Bali has stepped up its own vaccination efforts, alongside localised animal control drives, following the recent surge in cases.

Dog meat danger?
The latest attacks have also raised murkier questions about the public health risks associated with consuming dog or cat meat.
In parts of Indonesia, including Bali, North Sumatra and non-Muslim majority areas of Sulawesi, dog meat is considered a traditional cultural delicacy. Islamic law, meanwhile, explicitly prohibits the consumption of fanged terrestrial predators, including dogs.
While the country as a whole does not yet have a comprehensive nationwide law banning the dog meat trade, many cities, regencies and provinces have passed legislation to outlaw the practice.
Bali enacted its own ban in 2023, prohibiting the sale, purchase, and distribution of dog meat across the province, with offenders risking fines of up to 50 million rupiah (US$2,800) or three months in prison if convicted.
Wendy Higgins, director of international media for Humane World for Animals, called it a “scientific certainty” that the dog meat trade “poses a grave risk to human health by helping to spread deadly rabies in Indonesia”.
“Rabies-positive dogs can easily be trafficked into highly populated cities, including those areas that have worked hard to achieve a rabies-free status,” she said, adding that the greatest risk of exposure came during capturing, handling, slaughtering and butchering infected dogs.

While Higgins said it could not “be said with certainty that there is no health risk to consumers” from the dog meat trade, quantifying that risk was difficult.
“What we do know is that dogs and cats are typically slaughtered in unsanitary conditions and that rabies-positive dogs do get slaughtered and sold on to restaurants and markets,” she said.
At Galilea Restaurant in Medan, North Sumatra, where dog meat dishes share the menu with pork, chicken and fish, owner Obet Ginting was unfazed by the rising rabies case numbers in Bali, more than 2,000km (1,240 miles) away.
“If the meat is cooked thoroughly, there is no risk of getting infected,” he said, citing strict hygiene protocols such as frequent hand washing and well-sanitised food preparation areas.
“This is a family-run business and everyone is trained to the highest standards.”
Obet could not guarantee that every animal he had ever served was free of infection, but he said that all dogs were inspected on arrival for obvious signs of illness before being slaughtered on site.
Strays rounded up in neighbouring Aceh province once provided the restaurant with the dogs it uses in its curry, soup and barbecue dishes, but it has since switched to a dedicated breeder supplying both chickens and dogs raised specifically for the restaurant trade.
While Obet said rabies was not the deciding factor behind the shift, changing suppliers had brought other reassurances.
“I feel like the quality of our meat is better now and there is less chance of the animals having any illnesses,” he said.
Dr Ria confirmed that cooking did kill the virus, but she warned that anyone handling, slaughtering or butchering an infected animal was at risk if the creature’s saliva made contact with them during preparation.
Veterinarian Hadi, for his part, said he would not be comfortable describing meat from a rabies-infected animal as entirely safe for human consumption, no matter how well it was cooked.
“The best way to prevent the spread of rabies is to educate the public and explain the function of the rabies vaccines to both pet owners and anyone at risk,” he said. “Socialisation programmes and education are very important.”


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This Week in Asia

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Nearly 30,000 people have been bitten by suspected rabid animals on the Indonesian resort island this year. Five died


Nearly 30,000 people have been bitten by suspected rabid animals on the Indonesian resort island this year. Five died.


Disease

Animals

Tourism

As Indonesia’s Bali battles a rabies surge, dog meat draws fresh scrutiny

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nearly 30,000 people have been bitten by suspected rabid animals on the Indonesian resort island this year. Five died

Nearly 30,000 people have been bitten by suspected rabid animals on the Indonesian resort island this year. Five died