Two other rabies related deaths has been reported after treatment at hospitals in Karachi taking the total number of confirmed fatalities in the city this year to five health officials said.
The latest victims are an elderly man from Lyari and a young girl from Mirpurkhas. Authorities are sure that neither patient was vaccinated after being attacked by a dog.
Hospital officials said the man who has been identified as Nemat Gul was bitten by a stray dog nearly three months ago, but did not seek medical treatment at the time. His conditions worsened after he developed classical symptoms of rabies like hydrophobia breathing difficulty, restlessness and throat spasms.
He was then transferred to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where he died.
In another separate case the young girl was taken to Indus Hospital Korangi after her health deteriorated sharply.
According to hospital’s Rabies Prevention clinic the child had been bitten on the face about two months ago and had not received any immediate vaccination. She started developing symptoms for 4 days before hospitalisation including fever, irritability, hydrophobia and aerophobia and died in spite of intensive care.
Health officials said Karachi hospitals are now dealing with five cases of confirmed deaths due to rabies this year. Two of the victims were people from Karachi while others were from interior Sindh and Balochistan. Two of them were treated at Jinnah Hospital and three at Indus Hospital.
Medical experts said they are concerned about an apparent rise in incidents of dog bites throughout the city. Emergency department officials of Jinnah Hospital that the cases have increased as for last year with additional spike of around five per cent in the month of Ramzan.
Doctors have warned that the increasing number of stray dogs has become a major public health threat and citizens should also get urgent medical attention if bitten by dogs and make it clear that rabies is almost always fatal once people show symptoms.
Also read: Lahore reports record rise in stray dog bite cases
