Gone to the dogs

Wonder what it was with dogs last week. Attended no less than seven or eight cases of dog bite in a single day. all shape and categories. Most didn’t require much other than cleaning of wounds and advise regarding vaccination and antibiotics. The situation of rabies being what it is in our country I always advise both active and passive immunization in cases of severe injuries.

Jayakumar R
Department of Animal Biotechnology, Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chennai-600 007.
A pilot survey of the dog population and rabies vaccination in India.
Biomedicine. 1997; 17(1): 25-7
ABSTRACT: A pilot survey of the dog population and the status of rabies vaccination was conducted by using a questionnaire prescribed by the World Health Organization in a suburban area to determine the size and structure of the dog population and its level of rabies vaccination. There was a ratio of 1:19.23 dog to human and the mean number of dogs per household was 1:11. The level of rabies vaccination was 39,1 percent. With the rabies incidence in India still unacceptably high this level of vaccination is clearly inadequate and measures designed to increase the rate of vaccination are emphasized.
KEYWORDS:
Dog Diseases/PC; Rabies/VE; Vaccination/VE; Rabies/PC; Population Dynamics; Animal; Dogs; Data Collection
References: 14
Record Identifier: NI004243

One seven year old bitten by the village dog was in really bad shape with large laceration over scalp and part of skin torn away. The wound was repaired primarily after debridement and a little bit of mobilization. I reexamined the wound today and it has healed quite well. Great!

I have seen a few cases of rabies and I can tell you it is mind numbing and disturbing. The future remains grim.

One reply on “Gone to the dogs”

  1. Would you know what the incidence of rabies is after dogbites in nonimmunised individuals?
    And also how effective are the post bite vaccinations in preventing rabies?

    I have only read about rabies never seen one. But the descriptions are really frightening.

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