Rabid apathy

A six-year-old girl has met a horrible death that rabies inflicts upon its victims. And this has happened in Chandigarh, a city that likes to be associated with all things beautiful. There is nothing beautiful about nearly 500 people being bitten by dogs in the city every month. While the death from rabies is the first in recorded history of the city, there are often cases of rabid dogs biting people. The chances of preventing the spread of infection in a person bitten by a rabid animal — can be mammals other than dogs too - depend on the promptness with which treatment is administered and the quality of the vaccine or serum used.

For this little girl, the daughter of a poor woman who was separated from her husband, the system failed. There was a delay, and the quality and dose of the serum she was given are suspect. Each case will have its own circumstances, but the health system at least in a 'model city' such as Chandigarh has to cover all possibilities. All health centres may not have the required treatment, but they should be able to give effective first aid and then recommend the correct course of follow-up action. Rabies has to be treated as an emergency, and services required to handle it geared up accordingly.

The larger battle remains with man's best friend, who occasionally turns a deadly enemy. There is mutual benefit that has brought the two species close through the process of evolution. Other than forest-dwelling wild dogs, almost no dogs can survive without humans. And humans are unable to bring themselves to culling the tail-wagging furry critters in cold blood. Sterilisation and vaccination of the dogs is the only legal option available, but that can be effective only if it is carried out in an intensive and relentless manner. What sustains dogs is actually another bane of human habitations - garbage lying in the open. If a city like Chandigarh, with its end-to-end garbage collection and disposal mechanism, is unable to check this, there can be little hope in other towns and cities.