No Stuart Little: Peshawar’s ‘tail’ of giant rats
That was when teenager Ayaz accidentally stepped on a rat in Sethi Town during Eidul Azha holidays. The wound on his ankle bled profusely, and resulted in the 14-injection rabies course at a hospital.
Word around the city is there is a new breed of giant rats since the last few years, posing a new health risk. Locals say the usual smaller grey rodents have been wiped out by a more aggressive, larger species which is not too shy to take a swipe at humans.
Azhar Elahi had to rush his two-year-old nephew to the hospital on one dark night with a rat bite. The child had been sleeping when he was bitten. “He suddenly started crying and that’s when we saw he was bleeding from his ear,” said Elahi. “We rushed him to hospital where doctors identified it is as a rat bite.”
The stories come from different areas but all end with a slightly sinister tale of a bloody ankle, limb or other body part.
Bashir Ahmad from Dhaki Nalbandi near Qissa Khwani was trying to chase one of these creatures out of a cupboard when it boldly chomped down on his thumb. “I took it lightly; I thought it would be like a bee sting but a few days later my thumb turned blue.” Ahmad was also rushed to the hospital where he was vaccinated against rabies.
Dr Imran from the emergency unit at Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) confirms an increase in intake of patients with rat bites who need post-exposure rabies vaccination.
“It’s a new one, rat bites. A number of patients are coming in to LRH with this problem,” said Imran.
“While we do provide rabies shots for free, patients will need to start buying them when we run short.” However, he worried, most people are not even aware of the health risks a rat bite poses. “Without proper treatment, a person with a bite can get many diseases.”
The doctor emphasised on the need for creating awareness about the consequences of rat bites and the diseases spread through rat droppings and food contaminated by the vermin.
Rats might be considered holy in some temples in northwestern India or make for cute animated movie characters, but are these Peshawar
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2014.
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@imran ullah: If you cant appreciate anything they are doing. It is better you join ANP and go back to their era. You should be advising them of what to correct. This is the first time these initiatives have been taken and you are stuck on making PTi and IK your enemy. They are doing it for you people still you dont realize..
This is naya pakistan by pti the way they are using the new municipal machine for cleaning the roads n garbage is worth seeing without proper handling n n using sprinklers with that only dry machine are used which in a very short time will be put in the garages for maintenance and funds will be asked for it, thanks for the kpk Govt to create the waste management authority which is useless in such time of need as local so called sweepers can do a lot more without the creation of depth. Only the proper supervision is required. From this one can also judge the claims of kpk pti Govt about the condition of general hospitals, what a pity for my KPK