A 37-year-old woman from a village near Thalout in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh died of Rabies at Indira Gandhi Medical College hospital here, confirmed Senior Medical Superintendent at IGMC, Dr Janak Raj.
The village woman, who was otherwise healthy, had suffered dot puncture wound (with a drop of blood oozing out) on left hand from the bite of two and a half month old pet pup (of a stray bitch) a month and a half ago, which the family had got from a friend’s home.
The victim had not got anti-rabies vaccination or rabies immunoglobulins after the bite due to general unawareness that pup bites can also be dangerous. This despite the fact that entire post-exposure prophylaxis for dog bite is being given free of cost in government in hospitals in Himachal.
Her family members had, however, killed the pup, who too was not vaccinated against Rabies, later as it went aggressive, the woman was taken to the hospital in Mandi last Friday only when she developed symptoms of hydrophobia. From there, she was referred to IGMC.
The doctors said she had developed symptoms of Rabies (hydrophobia and aerophobia) and she died within two says after she was admitted in the IGMC.
According to details shared by family members of the victim, they did not take her to hospital immediately after pup bite, as the wound was very small and they thought that pups can’t cause such a big trouble.
The hospital too was 15 kilometres away, so they did not take it seriously. In Himachal, five-six deaths have been reported due to pup bites and scratches over last eight years, including two in Solan, one in Sirmaur and Bilaspur each. All of them had ignored it and had not got anti-rabies treatment.
In another case, a tourist from Delhi, who was bitten by street pup while offering a biscuit, had died of Rabies later after she returned home. She had got anti-rabies vaccination administered, but not rabies immunoglobulins.