Two more die of rabies in Karachi

KARACHI: Two more people have died of rabies in Karachi over the past two days, taking the death toll from the disease in Sindh to 22 this year, officials said on Friday.

A 24-year-old man died at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Thursday, while an 11-year-old boy died at the hospital on Friday, officials said.

Of the 22 reported rabies deaths in Sindh, 13 have been recorded at Indus Hospital in Karachi, eight at JPMC and one at Indus Hospital in Badin, according to health officials.

An 11-year-old boy, Abu Bakar, was diagnosed with rabies encephalitis around two months after he was bitten by a dog.

The case is significant as the child’s family said that he had completed the recommended post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) course following the dog bite, hospital officials said.

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The boy, a resident of Mirpurkhas, was brought to the emergency department on Wednesday night with fever and irritability for two to three days and difficulty eating and drinking for around a day.

His condition subsequently deteriorated and he died at the hospital on Friday, officials said.

Another victim, identified as Shehryar, a resident of Qayyumabad, was bitten by a dog around two months ago but did not receive post-exposure rabies vaccination following the bite, doctors said.

Shehryar was brought to the JPMC emergency department on Thursday in critical condition. He had been suffering from irritability, restlessness and agitation for about a week and had also developed hydrophobia, a characteristic symptom of rabies in which patients experience difficulty or fear associated with drinking water.

The Sindh Health Department said the latest deaths had taken the number of rabies fatalities reported in the province this year to 22.