Key Points

The anxious mother, hailing from Kollam, of the seven-year-old girl said that a stray dog attacked her daughter on April 8.

“We immediately took her to the hospital and both anti-rabies serum (ARS) and intradermal rabies vaccine (IDRV) was administered,” said the distraught mother.

“There was only one more dose left to be taken, as she got a fever at that time. We then took her to the Taluk hospital and from there to the SAT hospital in the state capital city, where she is now admitted and is serious, according to the doctors. We do not know why this happened as we had adhered to all that the doctors advised us,” said the mother.

Incidentally, this new case comes five days after a six-year-old girl in Malappuram district died of rabies on April 28.

This child was bitten by a stray dog on March 29, and the same day, the same dog had bitten seven other people.

While all except the six-year-old recovered, her condition failed to improve despite taking both the ARS and IDRV, and after battling for her life, she passed away on April 28, leaving many in a state of despair.

Meanwhile, according to statistics from the Kerala Health Directorate, during the period of five years from 2021, there were 102 rabies deaths, of which 19 per cent of the deceased had taken both the vaccines.

Irked by the public outcry against the increased stray dog bites across the state and the deaths taking place even after following all the vaccination protocols, the Kerala government in 2022 constituted a committee to study, and it found that the wounds (bites) of these deaths were in areas of neck, face and head.

This committee, after conducting tests on the ADR and IDRV vaccines, found that it adhered to all the accepted standards.

- IANS