2 rabies deaths despite vaccination

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
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.