KARACHI: A woman bitten by a mongoose in a village in Jacobabad died of rabies on Thursday morning at the Indus Hospital.

According to hospital officials, this rare case of rabies involved a 42-year-old woman, a resident of Ghulam Qadir Mugheri Goth, Jacobabad, who was brought to the facility on Wednesday with symptoms suggestive of rabies encephalitis. This was the current year’s 9th case of rabies at this hospital.

“The family told the staff that she had sustained a bite on her hand from a mongoose two weeks back while harvesting crops in her village. The patient didn’t seek any medical care,” an official of the Indus Hospital told Dawn.

The patient developed fever, difficulty swallowing, and increasing restlessness, two days prior to reporting at the Indus Hospital, he added.

The 42-year-old patient was brought to Indus Hospital on Wednesday; she was ninth rabies patient reported at the health facility this year

Upon examination, doctors observed classic signs of rabies, including hydrophobia (fear of water), aerophobia (fear of air) and sensitivity to light. They counseled the family regarding her diagnosis and the extremely poor prognosis associated with clinical rabies.”

She passed away on Thursday after remaining in palliative care for some time.

“Rabies is 100 per cent preventable through timely medical intervention, yet it remains one of the deadliest infectious diseases once symptoms appear,” said Aftab Gohar, Manager, Rabies Prevention &Training Centre, Indus Hospital & Health Network (IHHN).

This tragic case, he noted, served as a stark reminder of the need for greater public awareness regarding rabies prevention and the importance of seeking urgent medical attention after any animal bite.

Gohar recalled that at least six cases involving a potentially rabid donkey and a goat were also treated at the facility.

“Four people bitten by a donkey in Sharafi Goth, Karachi, were treated at the hospital on June 4. Information gathered from the patients showed that the donkey with symptoms suggestive of rabies was bitten by a dog earlier. The two cases involving a goat bite were reported from Sharifabad, Korangi Industrial Area. Both potentially rabid animals were euthanised with the help of local vets by their owners,” he shared.

These cases, he emphasised, highlighted the need for public awareness. “While dog bites account for the majority of rabies cases, bites from potentially rabid wild animals can also transmit the virus. Early wound cleansing, timely rabies vaccination, and administration of rabies immunoglobulin, if needed, can effectively prevent the disease that’s almost invariably fatal once clinical symptoms appear,” he said.

The hospital data shows that 107 rabies cases have been recorded since 2009.

Although most cases resulted from dog bites, rare animal exposures included cats (two cases), a jackal (one case), a fox (one case) and, following the current case, a mongoose.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2026