Ignorance is bliss?

Not always.

Rahul.

   

My dhobiwallah (One who washes cloths).

 

Rahul must be around 18 years and he is my dhobiwallah. He comes to my flat on weekends, takes my clothes for pressing and returns them all the same day. Quite a cheerful character! Last weekend he did not come. The reason being he was bitten by a stray dog, thanks to Mumbai Municipal Corporation. Mumbai, India’s economic capital has the largest community of stray dogs!

Rahul’s ‘doctor’ has advised him that anti rabies vaccine need not be taken as the bite wound is very small, instead, watch the dog for 10 days. According to his doctor only if the dog dies, Rahul need to take anti rabies vaccine!!!!! What a resourceful doctor!

Since I am marketing anti rabies vaccine and naturally my knowledge being quite good about rabies, I took extra interest in Rahul and showed him one of my presentations on rabies. I made it very simple and took care to scare Rahul sufficiently so that he definitely takes the prescribed 5 doses of anti rabies vaccine. Rahul was shit scared when he saw the visuals in my presentation. My attempt to make Rahul understand Rabies was successful as I could convince Rahul to go to a different doctor and take 5 doses of vaccine on day 0, 3, 7, 14 & 28.  

Many people are ignorant of Rabies including doctors. During their curriculum days in med school they spend only about an hour or so, on Rabies and hence their knowledge of rabies is very limited. But when they start the practice they are confronted with dog bite cases and they are not aware of what to do at that time.

Rabies is 100% fatal but 100% preventable too! (If proper anti rabies vaccine is given at the right time)

When a dog bites or even scratches as per the WHO recommendation one needs to take  5 injections – on day 0 (The day dog bites) followed by one injection on day 3, 7, 14 & 28.

Even if you over treat the dog bite it is still worth it considering the fatality of the disease and its prognosis. (You should insist with your doctor to give 5 injections even if his opinion is different!)

The rule is same even for a pet dog which is vaccinated.

If you are still not convinced - take a look at the shocking film of a little boy who died of hydrophobia after the dog bite by clicking on the link below!

Shocking video of a little boy who died of Rabies.

Please pass this information to all your friends and relatives.