UP: Rabies-infected 2-year-old girl bites 40 people, dies

A two-year-old girl passed away in a Uttar Pradesh village after being bitten by a stray dog. And before her death, she had bitten 40 people, according to a report.

The girl was at her maternal uncle’s house in Kyolari village of Konch tehsil when she was bitten by a stray dog about two weeks ago, and she died on Monday (July 24), an IANS news agency report said on Wednesday.

As per the report, the villagers claimed that the dog had died after biting the girl. After the dog attack, the girl was taken to a quack for treatment and the child started showing signs of rabies.

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After the attack on her, the child had bitten or scratched with her fingernails around 40 persons. On Friday, the girl collapsed and was taken to the district hospital where the doctors told the family to take the child to Jhansi for treatment. However, she passed away on Monday, the report said.

More than 40 villagers from Kyolari village had gone to the Community Health Centre (CHC) to take the rabies vaccine.

Tens of thousands of deaths due to rabies

Rabies is a vaccine-preventable viral disease which occurs in more than 150 countries and territories. It causes tens of thousands of deaths every year, mainly in Asia and Africa, 40% of whom are children under 15 years of age, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

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Dogs are the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of all rabies transmissions to humans. Rabies can be prevented through vaccination of dogs and prevention of dog bites. After a potential exposure of people to a rabid animal, they can seek post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which consists of immediate, thorough wound washing with soap and water for 15 minutes, a series of rabies vaccinations and, if indicated, administration of rabies immunoglobulin or monoclonal antibodies, which can be life-saving, says WHO.

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