In Uttar Pradesh, a three-year-old boy lost his life, 45 days after being bitten by a rabid dog, said the officials on Sunday. The victim, Anshu, succumbed to the effects of rabies at a private hospital near his village on Friday.
The same dog also attacked ten other children, said the officials.
The incident occurred in the Nagla Nathlu village under the Charra police station. His family said that he started showing "strange symptoms" like hydrophobia (extreme fear of water) which is a classic sign of advanced rabies, a few days before his death.
His death led to the revelation that around 10 other children were also attacked by the same rabid dog. Following this, a team of health officials rushed to the village on Friday.
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In a deeply concerning discovery, the medical team found that none of the ten other child victims, aged between two and 12 years, had sought any medical treatment after being bitten by the rabid animal.
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Aligarh district, Dr Neeraj Tyagi, told media persons, "We have taken this matter very seriously, and a drive is being launched for all preventive steps like administration of anti-rabies vaccines." However, the CMO clarified that he could not definitively confirm rabies as the cause of Anshu's death.
"Firstly, the errant dog was killed after the incident, so we could not conduct tests on the canine. Similarly, we could not examine the deceased child before he died and confirm any diagnosis," he explained.
He further assured the public that government hospitals have an "adequate stock of anti-rabies vaccines to handle the menace."
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