Abu Taher
Rabies is one of the deadliest viral diseases known to humankind. It is usually transmitted through the bite or scratch of a rabid animal, most commonly dogs. The initial symptoms may seem mild with fever, burning or itching sensations, and muscle stiffness. But the disease quickly progresses to severe complications, including hydrophobia (fear of water), agitation, and seizures. Tragically, once symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal- the chances of the affected patient surviving are almost nil.
Affected patients become extremely frightened upon seeing or thinking about water. Usually, the patient dies within a week of the onset of rabies symptoms and there is no effective treatment except for some palliative treatment. However, there is an effective vaccine against rabies, which can be administered before symptoms of the disease appear and death can be avoided.
This viral disease is transmitted from animals to humans. In an unfortunate circumstance, if bitten or scratched by a dog or cat, the first-aid treatment need to be followed immediately: wash the wound with water and soap which reduces the risk of contracting rabies by 70 percent. Even then, one must contact the nearest hospital to get vaccinated against rabies; typically four doses of vaccine are administered.
In Bangladesh, 95 percent of patients get rabies from dog bites. However, there is a risk of getting rabies from the bites of animals such as foxes, cats, bats, badgers, monkeys, etc. It is quite a regular phenomenon in our society that dozens of strayed dogs wander here and there nearby the populous inhabitation almost every day. Strayed dogs, cats and other animals are carrying highly risk of rabies virus exposing a threat to human life. So, we need to be very careful about dogs and cats especially sick ones.
Previously the authorities used to kill stray dogs to control the population. The dog culling was banned in 2015 in an order given by High Court Division following a writ petition filed by Obhayaronno, an animal welfare society in Bangladesh. Moreover, Part -2: Article 18A of the Bangladesh Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 2011 (Act XIV of 2011), section 12 states: “Protection and improvement of environment and biodiversity sub-clause, which defines as the State shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and preserve and safeguard the natural resources, biodiversity, wetlands, forests and wildlife for the present and future citizens.” So, respecting to the Constitutional laws, killing of wild animals including dogs is not a sensible measure to prevent from such life-threatening disease. Rather, the government can ensure veterinary hospitals in every upazilas with modern equipment and medicine so that people get better remedies- get proper vaccine dosage. Alongside, field level veterinary officers need to forge campaigns to make the people aware of the disease. It is a major concern that rabies may claim the lives of our children and kith and kin owing to lack of awareness among ourselves.
Vaccination and capture and the neuter and release programs could reduce the possibility of patients’ death from rabies. Vaccinating stray dogs can stop the spreading of the disease to humans while neutering them can decrease the population. Such vaccination and capture and neuter and release programs in a number of foreign countries were quite effective deals with the most common issue of stray dogs and the virus.
Evident shows that rabies vaccination program led by the World Health Organization (WHO) caused rabies rates to drop 93 percent in Latin America. As for neutering programs, India saw a decrease in the dog density of the state by one third.
Yet despite the proven success of these programs, we still have limitations for wide-spread reach of rabies. Often in developing countries, including Bangladesh, veterinarians do not have the training or experience in small animal medicine and surgery. On top of that, organisations and hospitals have difficulty accessing the necessary resources and funds.
As of yet, no method to control stray dogs worked perfectly. But some could do work better both in the ethical and practical sense. In the future, perhaps innovation will make the practical methods more accessible and effective to control the strayed dogs’ population and prevention of deaths caused by the rabies.
In the conscientious world, we cannot have rabies continue claiming lives unnecessarily despite being preventable. Bangladesh must now take strong, coordinated action- through vaccination drives, veterinary infrastructure development, and nationwide awareness campaigns- to protect both human health and wildlife.
By vaccinating stray and wild animals and managing their populations humanely, we can envision a future free from deaths caused by this deadly but preventable disease.
