(IN) 2 rabies deaths despite vaccination

[Guest guest]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4969604.cms

 

2 rabies deaths despite vaccination

TNN 4 September 2009, 04:30am IST

 

MALDA: The lives of 35 dog bite victims are hanging in balance after two people

died showing rabies symptoms while the vaccination process was still on in

Malda's Harishchandrapur.

 

The dog that bit the two victims also attacked 35 other villagers, two of them

school students aged three and 10.

 

Doctors said the two deaths over the past two days indicate that the vaccine may

have become ineffective, which would mean that all the other villagers taking

the vaccine are under threat.

 

Malda CMOH Dr Srimanta Roy conceded that both victims Alfaj Ali (46) and Pir

Muhammad (45) had died with symptoms of rabies. " What's alarming is that the

victims, as well as a number of others, are being vaccinated presently. We have

already started field visits, apart from convening a district-level meeting to

discuss the threat. We are also checking the quality of the vaccines supplied by

the government agency, " Roy said.

 

Though Roy hinted that both victims may have taken the first vaccine shot beyond

the stipulated time, reports from the villages indicate otherwise. Pir, who died

on Wednesday, had been bitten on August 3 and had taken the first vaccine on

August 4 within the crucial first 24 hours. Ali died on Thursday.

 

While Pir was due for a fourth vaccine dose on Sunday, Ali too had already taken

three vaccine shots. Both are residents of Kopra village under Vindol gram

panchayat in Harishchandrapur block. With the two deaths, panic has gripped a

cluster of villages like Kopra, Lakhanpur and Nisanpur.

 

Hetu Sheikh, another patient showing signs of hydrophobia, was referred to Malda

district hospital from Chanchal on Thursday.

 

A dreaded disease in rural Bengal, the initial symptoms of rabies include

headache and fever. If the vaccine is not administered, the symptoms may

progress to acute pain, violent movements, sudden excitement, depression and

inability to swallow water. The final stage shows mania and acute lethargy. Most

patients pass into coma after this and die of respiratory failure.

 

--

Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org

[Guest guest]

Rabies elimination is far easier and quicker than population control of dogs.

 

All that it requires is that over 70% of the dogs be vaccinated as fast as

possible and the remaining as soon thereafter as can be done. Rabies is

100% preventible by vaccination.

 

The problem is that India, with frequent power cuts and ignorant (or

worse) pharmacy owners turning of their refrigerators at night and over

the weekends, the cold chain which is essential to maintain the efficacy

of the vaccine is broken. This is equally true of whether the vaccine is

for veterinary use or for humans.

 

Secondly, I hope that the vaccine being administered to dog bite patients

in West Bengal is not the neural tissue vaccine which should have been

banned by the Government in the eighties itself. Not only is this vaccine

dangerous for its side effects, it takes very long to lead to sufficient

anti-body formation to offer protection much of the time and is extremely

painful. To the best of my knowledge, all states in India have gone in for

the tissue culture vaccine which is certainly highly effective if the cold

chain is maintained. Corruption in the buying chain officials leads, quite

often, to spurious and ineffective vaccines being supplied by unscrupulous

traders.

 

S. Chinny Krishna

 

 

> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4969604.cms

>

> 2 rabies deaths despite vaccination

> TNN 4 September 2009, 04:30am IST

>

> MALDA: The lives of 35 dog bite victims are hanging in balance after two

> people died showing rabies symptoms while the vaccination process was

> still on in Malda's Harishchandrapur.

>

> The dog that bit the two victims also attacked 35 other villagers, two of

> them school students aged three and 10.

>

> Doctors said the two deaths over the past two days indicate that the

> vaccine may have become ineffective, which would mean that all the other

> villagers taking the vaccine are under threat.

>

> Malda CMOH Dr Srimanta Roy conceded that both victims Alfaj Ali (46) and

> Pir Muhammad (45) had died with symptoms of rabies. " What's alarming is

> that the victims, as well as a number of others, are being vaccinated

> presently. We have already started field visits, apart from convening a

> district-level meeting to discuss the threat. We are also checking the

> quality of the vaccines supplied by the government agency, " Roy said.

>

> Though Roy hinted that both victims may have taken the first vaccine shot

> beyond the stipulated time, reports from the villages indicate otherwise.

> Pir, who died on Wednesday, had been bitten on August 3 and had taken the

> first vaccine on August 4 within the crucial first 24 hours. Ali died on

> Thursday.

>

> While Pir was due for a fourth vaccine dose on Sunday, Ali too had already

> taken three vaccine shots. Both are residents of Kopra village under

> Vindol gram panchayat in Harishchandrapur block. With the two deaths,

> panic has gripped a cluster of villages like Kopra, Lakhanpur and

> Nisanpur.

>

> Hetu Sheikh, another patient showing signs of hydrophobia, was referred to

> Malda district hospital from Chanchal on Thursday.

>

> A dreaded disease in rural Bengal, the initial symptoms of rabies include

> headache and fever. If the vaccine is not administered, the symptoms may

> progress to acute pain, violent movements, sudden excitement, depression

> and inability to swallow water. The final stage shows mania and acute

> lethargy. Most patients pass into coma after this and die of respiratory

> failure.

>

> --

> Thank you for your compassion !

> With best regards,

> Debasis Chakrabarti

> Compassionate Crusaders Trust

> http://www.animalcrusaders.org

>

>