Rabies epidemic: Mad dog unleashes biting terror in Karachi

At least 23 people hospitalised but were denied treatment due to the shortage of anti-rabies vaccine

KARACHI: It has hardly been a month when the death of a 12-year-old boy in Larkana, as a consequence of rabies, unleashed a storm of protest and criticism among the masses. And yet, apparently it would take a lot more to move the authorities to step up efforts for freeing citizens from the terror of dog-bites and rabies.

Well, it seems to have happened.

On Monday, night descended on the residents of Karachi’s Federal Capital (FC) Area, amid fear and haunting howls of a rabid female dog on the loose, who went on a biting spree, sending at least 23 people, including a police official, to the hospital.

According to an area local and cable operator Zeeshan Taimuri, the frenzied canine was initially seen wandering about the street adjacent to Jamia Masjid Wusta. It would go berserk and ferociously attack anyone who went near the mosque, he told The Express Tribune.

The first one to fall prey to its frenzy was a minor girl who was attacked around 4pm on Monday, said Taimuri.

Recounting the terrifying instance when he was attacked, another one of the dog’s victims, Muhammad Aijaz, narrated that the mad female dog had first slashed its paws across his chest, leaving deep scratches, and then bitten him in the darkness of the night, while he was returning home.

Corroborating Aijaz’s account, Taimuri said, “It [the dog] would mainly target the face and chest of the people and continued to terrorise the entire locality for several hours.

Besides Aijaz, residents who were bitten by the dog include Abdul Ghafoor and his family, including his mother, wife and son, Zain, Shahrukh, Khan Sahab Afghani, Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Akbar and others.

The dog-victims were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for vaccination.

No respite

However, much to their disappointment, doctors at the hospital could do little to cure their malady, due to the non-availability of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV).

Despite persistent hue and cry over the rise in rabies cases and acute shortage of ARV at government hospitals, the shortfall has continued, hampering the treatment of dog-bite patients. Consequently, residents of FC Area were too denied treatment last night.

They were left with little choice but to purchase vaccines from local pharmacies at much higher prices than what they would have to pay at public health facilities.

However, speaking on the issue, Sindh Minister for Labour, Information and Archives Saeed Ghani said  that all victims of dog-bite on Monday went to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, adding that the hospital works under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and it was the KMC’s responsibility to provide vaccines there. “The Sindh government tries to send vaccines wherever they are needed,” he said.

Complaining about the situation, one of the disgruntled residents of FC Area said that each dose of the vaccine costs more than Rs1,000 and the vaccination course takes six months to complete. “This means that we will have to continuously spend a considerable amount on the treatment which is unjust,” he said.

The residents complained that usually each dose of ARV costs between Rs750 and Rs800, but the price has increased due to shortfall in the supply of the vaccine.

Hours-long hunt

While dog-bite victims and their families struggled to find a remedy to their problems at the hospital till late at night, other locals, panic-stricken and armed with sticks, remained busy in an hours-long search of the female dog. However, they had to wait till the next day until they were assured that their predicament had ended.

The locals were joined by police and Rangers personnel in their hunt for the dog after they received complaints about a mad dog on a biting spree in FC Area.

According to Sharifabad SHO Amjad Kiyani, police reached the spot as soon as they were informed of the occurrence. However, as the search began, which lasted long into the night without any result, one of the police officials, Sub-Inspector Muhammad Ali Khosa, too became a victim of the frenzied dog and had to be shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, he said.

With no clue about the dog’s whereabouts the search was temporarily suspended and restarted on Tuesday morning. It was then that the dog was found dead amid the bushes.

The locals confirmed that the body belonged to the dog who had unleashed panic and bitten several people in the area on Monday night.

Slain

According to the residents of FC Area, the dog died as a result of firing by Rangers and police during the operation at night.

The corpse was taken by Edhi volunteers, who too participated in the search operation.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Edhi volunteers said that Edhi Foundation has constituted a dedicated team for catching stray dogs, which participated in the operation on Monday night. The team was led by Saad Edhi and the search lasted for about 10 hours, they said.

The volunteers said that the dog’s corpse bore marks of wounds but the actual reason of its death couldn’t be ascertained.

According to Edhi representatives, vaccinate dogs instead of killing them is the right way to control rabies.

Vaccinate, not kill

A similar solution to rabies was proposed during a meeting called by Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani last week.

During the meeting, authorities decided to sidestep the traditional method of fighting rabies, opting to vaccinate the stray dogs instead of poisoning them, to eventually eradicate the deadly virus

Addressing the meeting, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at TIH, Dr Naseem Salahuddin, said that projects initiated by the World Health Organisation, World Organisation for Animal Health and United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, in different countries, have shown that mass dog vaccination (MDV) eliminates rabies in dogs, and eventually in humans.

She suggested that MDV, coupled with animal birth control, could prove to be a relatively ‘humane’ way of decreasing the canine population. Moreover, this might also make the dogs less aggressive, she had said.

All talk no action

However, despite authorities proposing solutions to combat rabies little seems to be done in this regard.

Speaking on the issue, Central District DMC Rehan Hashmi said that though plans are in the making to launch an anti-stray dog campaign but enough resources are not available to initiate the drive. “We are willing to launch the campaign but the Sindh government needs to release funds for it,” he said.  He further said that as far as his knowledge goes, killing stray dogs is prohibited by the Sindh government.

Similarly, Union Council Chairman Sajid Musharraf said that while his team is always ready to help the area locals, they are barred from killing a single dog by the provincial government and also needs funds to resolve the issue.

Councillor Sana Fayaz, on the other hand, assured that relevant authorities will be contacted to assist in the launch of the anti-stray dog campaign and also said that a special ward will be set up at Sindh Government Hospital Liaquatabad, for treating dog-bite patients.

Grievances

Nevertheless, amid claims of launching campaigns and assurances of taking steps to resolve the issue, citizens say that their complaints seem to be falling on deaf ears.

According to FC Area residents, the deputy commissioner, police, Rangers and other relevant authorities were repeatedly informed of the presence of rabid dog on the locality but no action was taken. Expressing concerns, they demanded that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah take notice of the alarming rise in dog-bite cases and ensure the availability of ARV at public hospitals.

One of the residents, speaking in condition of anonymity, attributed the occurrence to the “criminal negligence of authorities and said that the non-availability of ARV added to the problems of the people.  “Now we will also have to bear the hefty expenses of the vaccine and their seems to be no end in sight to our problems,” he lamented.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2019.