KARACHI: An eight-year-old girl bitten by a stray dog in Sanghar was presented with full-blown rabies at the Indus Hospital on Monday morning, raising the total number of reported cases of the deadly infectious disease to two this month.

Family sources told Dawn that the girl was bitten by a dog over a month ago and was initially treated at the civil hospital in Jhol city, district Sanghar, and then at another hospital in Hyderabad.

“We took her again to the hospital in Hyderabad when she fell ill, showing signs of mental illness. The medical staff told us that there was nothing to worry about,” the girl’s uncle said, adding that the family took the child to another hospital, which referred them to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) in Karachi.

The family reported to the JPMC at 5am on Monday. “There was no hospital bed vacant, and we were asked to take our girl to the Indus Hospital,” he added.

Official says child is under palliative care at Indus Hospital

Speaking to Dawn, Aftab Gohar, Manager Rabies Prevention and Training Centre at the Indus Hospital, said the child sustained serious dog-bite with multiple deep wounds and needed immediate life-saving treatment.

“On arrival, the child had already developed clinical signs of rabies, hydrophobia and aerophobia. She is under palliative care now, and the family has been counselled regarding the diagnosis and prognosis,” he said, adding that once the virus infects the central nervous system and clinical symptoms appear, rabies is fatal in 100 per cent of cases.

According to Mr Gohar, this is the second rabies case reported this month. “The first case was brought to our knowledge on Jan 14 when we provided preventive rabies treatment to several members of a family that had lost their loved one to the disease,” he said.

The male victim, in his late 40s, didn’t consider the injury significant enough to get treatment, he said.

“The family told us that the wound was minor and ignored it. A few months later, the victim developed rabies and was reported at a public sector hospital, but it was too late by then. The family resided somewhere in Malir,” he recalled.

The Indus Hospital this year so far has seen nearly 1,600 new dog bite cases while around 1,300 cases have been reported at Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK). Around 800 cases have been reported at JPMC.

According to experts, rabies deaths are preventable with prompt post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) by stopping the virus from reaching the central nervous system. PEP consists of thorough wound washing, administration of a course of human rabies vaccine and, when indicated, rabies immunoglobulins (RIG).

If a person is bitten or scratched by a potentially rabid animal, they should immediately and always seek PEP treatment.

Last year, 22 people lost their lives to rabies. Over 41,000 dog-bite cases were reported at three tertiary care hospitals: over 16,000 at the Indus Hospital, over 12,000 at JPMC and over 13,000 at CHK.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2026