The stray dog that bit 14 people in IIT Bombay on Saturday evening has died in BMC custody and the college has asked students who were bitten or scratched by the dog to urgently get a dose of immunoglobulin.
“While we have no yet got confirmation whether it (the dog) has rabies, if you came in contact with that particular dog (e. g., got bitten/scratched, or in contact with the saliva), please contact IITB hospital urgently if either you have not done so on that day or had done so and did not get a dose of immunoglobulin," An email by the Associate dean of Infrastructure Planning and support to students reads.
Immunoglobulin can be given up to seven days after contact with the dog, the mail added, urging students in contact with the dog to get the shot.
The Public Health Office of the college on Saturday evening issued an email warning students that a dog from outside the campus entered the campus and bit several students and workers. The PHO team caught the dog and kept it in a cage till the BMC officials arrived.
The dog was trapped and kept in a cage before it was taken by municipal officials to the animal shelter in Mulund called Utkarsh.
The Free Press Journal has been checking on the dog for the last week and had been told by the NGO that the dog is being screened for infectious diseases it might have contracted, although the NGO couldn’t confirm if the dog is sick.
It may be recalled that the dog set a sense of fear in the campus because its erratic behaviour led to several students getting bitten and because it came from outside the campus, its medical status, whereabouts and temperament could not be confirmed.
The 14 people bitten included 12 students and 2 Gulmohar Area workers who were taken to the hospital. The outsider dog also bit several stray dogs from the campus.
