KARACHI, June 20: Rabies is one of those peculiar diseases which is completely preventable, but its rate of fatality is cent per cent.

This was stated by Dr Naseem Salahuddin, head of the infectious diseases department at the Liaquat National Hospital, at a press conference on Thursday. Dr Sharaf Ali Shah, programme manager of the AIDS prevention programme of the government of Sindh, Dr Bazmi Inam, chairman of the department of community health sciences at Ziauddin Medical University and Dr Nayyar-ul-Islam of the Civil Hospital also spoke at the press conference.

Rabies is a disease that causes madness and often death in dogs and other animals. Human beings can also catch rabies, usually by being bitten by an animal that has the disease.

Dr Naseem Salahuddin said that in government-run hospitals the patient was given the free Sheep Brain vaccine prepared and distributed by the National Institute of Health, Islamabad. “This vaccine has a high failure rate because of poor potency. The patient who is aware of this and can afford better care opts for superior, albeit expensive cell-line vaccine. A double standard of care clearly exists in rabies management all over Pakistan. For a disease with a predictably fatal outcome, this is an ethical issue, and pressure must be applied to change the state of affairs.”

Dr Nayyar-ul-Islam said that at the Civil Hospital at least 25 cases of dogbite were brought. “A large number of dogbite cases are not reported, for doctors are not officially bound to report dogbite cases. They tend to ignore them.”

He added that in rural areas the number of dogbite cases was much higher than in urban areas.

Dr Bazmi Inam said that in response to an outcry from the public and the press about the rising number of cases of dogbite and consequently human rabies, the Sindh Task Force was formed. He added that it was not difficult to prevent rabies, suggesting that pet dogs must be vaccinated and stray dogs either vaccinated or eliminated.

He added that if cell-line vaccines were manufactured by the National Institute of Health its price would come down.