Calls to relocate stray dogs grow as two more die of rabies in Sindh

• Death toll rises to 42 in Sindh this year • Referring to study about high prevalence of rabies virus in dogs in Karachi, PMA official stresses need for urgent action to control canine population KARACHI: Two more dog bite victims lost their lives to rabies on Monday, raising alarm amongst healthcare experts who urged the government to immediately put in place a mechanism for removing stray dogs from the streets and transferring them to designated shelters. With the latest cases, the total number of recorded deaths from the deadly infectious disease has risen to 42. Sources said the first victim, a 38-year-old man hailing from Hyderabad, died at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Monday.

“Patient Javed was a resident of Hyderabad and was brought to the emergency department yesterday [Sunday] around 11pm with complaints of hydrophobia, irritability, fever and dysphagia [discomfort in swallowing],” shared a JPMC doctor on the condition of anonymity. The patient was bitten by a dog on the face four months back and his post-exposure preventive treatment status was unknown, he added. The other dog-bite victim, the sources said, was 52-year-old Allahbad who was referred from Nawabshah to Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad. He passed away on Monday afternoon. ‘Govt seems least concerned’ “Free-roaming dogs are on a rampage across the province, injuring and killing people, including children, but the government seems least concerned,” regretted Dr Mirza Ali Azhar, representing the Pakistan Medical Association. Dr Azhar, who is also part of a civil society initiative against rabies, emphasised that the problem was not rabies but the stray dogs attacking people. “In 99 per cent of cases in our environment, rabies is a consequence of a dog bite. If there is no…