Boy dies of rabies in Larkana due to unavailability of vaccine

KARACHI: A 10-year-old Mir Hassan, who was bitten by a stray dog, died of rabies in Larkana  on Tuesday.

Rabies encephalitis, a lethal viral but vaccine-preventable disease, claimed another life  in Larkana district of Sindh when a boy died  after falling prey to  dog biting as  he was not treated due to  unavailability of  anti-rabies vaccine at government hospitals.

According to the parents, their son was first taken to a hospital in Shikarpur where the minor was not  given the treatment because there was no vaccine available at the hospital. Later, they   rushed him to Larkana's    Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Hospital   but he could not receive care there  either, as this government health center  had also run out of the vaccine. Resultantly, the patient succumbed to  the disease.

A Rabies Encephalitis is a dog-borne viral illness caused mostly by the biting of stray dogs, and if ARV is not administered to the affected person along with immunoglobulin, the patient suffers a miserable death due to hydrophobia and other complications of the disease.