The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Oral vaccine all set to bite into rabies menace

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 03, 2006
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Oral vaccine all set to bite into rabies menace

Y. Mallikarjun

TERROR ON THE STREET: Once the threshold level of vaccinating 70 per cent of stray dogs is reached, spread of rabies can be halted. - FILE PHOTO: K.R. Deepak

HYDERABAD: With about 20,000 people dying of rabies every year in the country, the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) is launching a pilot project in metros and 20 rural areas to immunise stray dogs to prevent rabies.

An imported oral bait vaccine will be used under the project recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). AWBI Chairman R.M. Kharb told The Hindu on Thursday that rabies was fully preventable and had been eradicated from several countries in Europe as well as Malaysia and Singapore.

However, it was causing a heavy financial burden on India as post-rabies exposure treatment in humans was costing about Rs. 300 crores annually and another Rs. 10 crores in animals. Besides human fatalities, rabid dog bites cause a large number of deaths in cattle, sheep, goat and camels.

Dr. Kharb said that plans had been finalised to launch the WHO-recommended immunisation programme on a pilot basis in Delhi and Chennai. It was proposed to be launched shortly in Hyderabad and other metros. After assessing its efficacy for a year, the project would be extended all over the country. The project would annually cost about Rs.250 crores.

High incidence in rural areas

He said the incidence of rabies as well as mortality caused by the disease was high in the rural areas.

Under the project, it was envisaged to form mobile teams which, on receiving information about the occurrence of rabies case from an area, would rush to the place and immunise the stray and also the dog bite victim.

He said that AWBI was the only agency in the country which was involved in controlling the population of stray dogs through its animal birth control programme and anti-rabies inoculation. While there are 15 to 20 million stray dogs in the country, over 70,000 are being sterilised/neutered every year. "We want to increase the exercise by three to four times. Then only it will have an effect on population control," Dr. Kharb added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News Update

Stories in this Section