Two men in Bao'an District of Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province died from rabies in two separate attacks by stray dogs, becoming Shenzhen's first recorded rabies deaths in five years, according to Saturday's Shenzhen Economic Daily.

Ma Hanwu, director of the municipal center of disease prevention and control's (CDC) epidemic diseases department, said that the cases should serve as a serious reminder to people who own a dog as well as the general public, not to neglect any minor wound caused by them or other animals.

One victim, surnamed Liu, 35, suffered a minor scratch on his left leg through his pants Nov. 25 in Gongming Subdistrict. However, there was no obvious wound on his leg, nor any bleeding. Liu, unaware of the risk of contracting rabies, took little notice of the scratch. However two days later, he began to feel uncomfortable and displayed some rabies symptoms. He sought treatment at Gongming Hospital and rabies was diagnosed. Liu was then transferred and hospitalized in Donghu Hospital on Nov. 28. But because he was late in seeking medical help, died on New Year's Day, Ma said.

The other victim, identified as He, 48, was bitten on his left hand by a stray dog in Gongming on Nov. 27. He did not visit a doctor until almost a month later when he started feel pain in the wound and his hand became numb. He was also told he had contracted rabies and died two days later in Donghu Hospital.

Ma said neither victim sought immediate treatment after the attacks, which could have minimized their chances of contracting the disease.

Rabies is a deadly disease with a 100 percent mortality rate.

The city's agriculture and forestry authorities banned 27 dog breeds from residential, business and industrial areas in Shenzhen in late November last year, in an attempt to protect the general public from being attacked.

(Shenzhen Daily January 8, 2007)