Rawalpindi:The district health department Rawalpindi is running a campaign in coordination with the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) for elimination of stray dogs however the teams of health department had to stop working in the field after interference from volunteers of a non-governmental organisation.
According to District Officer Health Dr. Ehsan Ghani, the teams of district health department have been providing technical assistance to TMA in the campaign for killing stray dogs and the district sanitary inspector is supervising the campaign.
District Sanitary Inspector Shahid informed ‘The News’ that the teams have resumed working in the field after lodging an FIR against the volunteers of the NGO and so far, the teams have eliminated as many as 49 stray dogs from seven union councils in town.
He said the district health department has planned to launch a campaign for killing of stray dogs after the severe heat spell in the region as it has been observed that in the extreme hot weather conditions, the stray dogs get rabid more often. Studies reveals that rabies is an acute infectious zoonotic disease of the central nervous system, which can affect almost all mammals, including humans and is transmitted to other animals and humans through close contact with the saliva of infected animals through bites, scratches, licks on broken skin and mucous membranes.
In case of a rabid animal bite case, the virus spreads from the injured part to the nerves and on to the spinal cord that damaging victim’s brain ultimately results in death. It causes convulsions, inability to move and strange behaviour developing hydrophobia (an extremely intense aversion to water, especially the fear of drinking water or other liquids) in the victim exposed to the disease.
It is important that rabies is one of the most neglected diseases in Pakistan though its incidence is very high with an estimated 2000 to 5000 cases every year meaning the disease claims 2000 to 5000 lives every year as it is 100 per cent fatal after developing symptoms.
If a stray dog bites a person and disappears or dies or is killed, the victim must report to the nearest healthcare facility and get anti-rabies vaccine because after exposure to the rabies, there is no treatment at all, said the DSI.
It is important that the disease period from the entrance of virus into the body till the appearance of symptoms is between three to 12 weeks normally and in rare cases can exceed up to six months or many years. The common carriers of the disease are dogs, the commonest ones, in Pakistan. The administration of anti-rabies vaccine, however, must be started from the day of bite.