Stray dogs and lack of vaccine

Packs of stray dogs are a common sight in Karachi. And a chronic lack of vaccine at hospitals in the biggest city of the country to treat dog-bite is what turns this animal, synonymous with loyalty, into a dangerous beast. The authorities are a perpetual failure both in the context of controlling the dog population in the city and ensuring the supply of the drugs that are needed to save dog-bite victims from a death that does not come easily: the victim first develops fever and pain in the head and limbs, and then picks up a choking sensation in the throat which renders him unable to even swallow water so much so that he starts avoiding even the sight of a glass of water out of sheer fear; and this condition, called hydrophobia, ultimately causes the death.

This past week, an 11-year-old boy died at a Karachi hospital. The boy was bitten by a dog in Sanghar, Sindh, and had to be brought to Karachi — some 225km away — because no anti-rabies vaccines were available elsewhere in the province. This was the sixth dog-bite victim to close his eyes at Karachi hospitals, according to media reports. Of the remaining five, two were the residents of Karachi while three hailed from rural Sindh.

It’s no exaggeration that more than 120 dog-bite victims report daily to only three hospitals of Karachi having facilities to manage dog-bite cases The fact that the victims are from all over Sindh speaks of the prevalence of the problems across the province and of the apathy of the authorities towards tackling what the WHO has classified as a neglected tropical disease, or NTD, and aims to eliminate from the world by 2030.

There is a need to adopt the scientific way of eliminating this problem — through consistently run campaigns of mass dog vaccination, in tandem with animal birth control measures. Increased public awareness about timely wound management is also a must.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2019.

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