KARACHI(National Times)- Two patients, including a boy from Sanghar, died of rabies in as many days at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) while a woman from Hyderabad affected by the deadly infectious disease is currently under palliative care at the Indus Hospital, it emerged on Friday.
With the latest cases, sources said, the death toll from the infectious disease has risen to 25.
Thirteen deaths were reported at Indus Hospital — 12 at its Korangi facility and one at its Badin campus. The JPMC has recorded eight deaths this year so far.
Four rabies cases, sources said, were reported in the interior parts of the province and consulted with experts at the Indus Hospital over the past two months.
The sources said that the latest cases at the JPMC involved an 11-year-old boy, who was bitten by a dog in Sanghar four months ago and reported at the facility on Wednesday, and a 24-year-old man from Qayyumabad, Karachi, who passed away within a few hours of his arrival at the hospital on Thursday.
“Both patients were brought to us with symptoms, strongly suggestive of rabies encephalitis [a serious medical condition defined by inflammation of the brain tissue].
“The boy’s family told us that he had received vaccination for the dog bite prior to reporting at the hospital,” said Dr Irfan Siddiqui heading the JPMC’s emergency centre, adding that the patient from Qayyumabad didn’t seek any treatment at all following a dog bite two months ago in the city.
According to him, all eight cases of rabies, either resulted in fatal outcomes or had been discharged against medical advice.
“Once clinical symptoms appear, the viral infection is almost 100 per cent fatal,” he said.
The JPMC data show that the hospital has seen 8,856 new dog bite cases this year so far from Jan to Aug 20 with administration of 14,704 follow-up doses.
Sources at the JPMC shared six of the eight cases involved Karachi’s residents.
They were brought from Gulshan-i-Maymar, Lyari, SITE, Ali Muhammad Goth (Taiser Town), Ajmer Nagri and Korangi — indicating an acute lack of public awareness about the high mortality risk a dog bite posed.
“It’s important that people know that they immediately seek medical attention and get appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis following a bite or even slight scratching by a dog or any potentially rabid animal,” Dr Siddiqui said.
Officials at the Indus Hospital — currently serving as the Provincial Training Centre for the management of dog bite and rabies cases — shared that doctors provided consultation for the four cases reported at hospitals in Tando Allah Yar (one case), Shahdadpur (two cases,) and Hala (one case).
Of these four cases, one was an adult male and three were children.
On Thursday, a 30-year-old woman from Hyderabad reported at Indus Hospital with full-blown rabies. She is currently being provided with palliative care.
Over 13,000 dog bite cases have been managed at the Indus Hospital this year so far.
According to experts, making the right treatment available at hospitals and controlling the dog population humanely are critical steps to save lives.
While dog bites account for the majority of rabies cases, bites from potentially rabid wild animals can also transmit the virus.
Early wound cleansing, timely rabies vaccination and administration of rabies immunoglobulin, if needed, can effectively prevent the disease.
