Boy from Jhal Magsi dies of rabies at Karachi's JPMC
Hospital sources said he was bitten about a month before his death, was admitted on November 1, and did not receive rabies immunoglobulin.
A 12-year-old boy from Jhal Magsi district in Balochistan died of rabies at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre in Karachi on Wednesday evening, hospital sources said.
The child had been bitten by a dog about a month before his death, according to Minute Mirror. He was brought to the JPMC on November 1 after symptoms of the infection appeared, and was treated there for four days before he died.
A senior JPMC doctor told Dawn that the boy arrived with high fever, hydrophobia and irritability, which the doctor described as the classic clinical signs of encephalitic rabies. Dawn's report also mentioned that the boy had injuries.
The two accounts differ on where he was vaccinated. Dawn reported that he received the rabies vaccine in Jhal Magsi district and was later taken to a hospital in Larkana, from where he was referred to Karachi. Minute Mirror reported that he was given two doses of the vaccine in Larkana after the bite.
Citing hospital sources, Minute Mirror reported that rabies immunoglobulin, which is given in some cases after exposure to the virus, was not administered to the patient.
Hospital figures cited by Minute Mirror put the total number of reported rabies cases at 41, with 29 at Indus Hospital and 12 at the JPMC.
Rabies spreads mainly through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, usually a dog. Once clinical symptoms appear the disease is almost always fatal, and health workers advise washing a bite wound with soap and running water and seeking treatment immediately. Post-exposure treatment can include vaccination and, where indicated, rabies immunoglobulin, depending on the severity of the exposure.
How the reports differ
Dawn led with the boy's vaccination history in Jhal Magsi and a JPMC doctor's description of his symptoms, and reported that he was referred from a hospital in Larkana. Minute Mirror led with hospital sources confirming the death and carried the November 1 admission date, the two vaccine doses given in Larkana, the absence of rabies immunoglobulin, and a tally of 41 rabies cases split between Indus Hospital and the JPMC. The reports place the vaccination differently: Dawn in Jhal Magsi district, Minute Mirror in Larkana.
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