KARACHI, JAN 30: Rabies is endemic in Pakistan with 2000 rabies-related deaths occurring every year.

The rabies surveillance is insufficient and dogs-control measures are ineffective in almost all parts of the country.

Public awareness regarding the disease is very limited. Some studies in Karachi have shown that 40 per cent of those who received post-exposure treatment using the sheep-brain vaccine succumbed to the disease despite having undergone full courses of treatment. 76 per cent of the patients had severe bites treatment requiring immunoglobulin administration.

A recent report further reveals that some 81,800 patients in the year 2000 received the Post Exposure Treatment (PET) administration in Pakistan. 80 per cent of these cases were treated with the sheep-brain vaccine produced by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and 20 per cent received the cell culture vaccine. Rabies immunoglobin of the human and horse origin was given to only two per cent of patients.

Though the NIH plans to resume the human diploid cell vaccine product, this has yet to be materialised. It is in this backdrop that one comes to understand that of the estimated 694,200 persons bitten by infected dogs each year in the country, and who may even be administered the ARV produced by the NIH, 277,680 would end up dying anyway.

It can be further assumed that rabies might be causing 767 deaths every day in Pakistan, even when the ARV is made available to them. It is common knowledge that the ARV supply from the NIH Islamabad to the government health facilities has always been patchy and erratic.—APP