Gandhinagar: A tragic incident has come to light from Gujarat's Gandhinagar. The daughter of a retired IAS officer died of rabies after being bitten by a vaccinated pet dog. She was a senior education professional.
The 50-year-old woman contracted the infection four months ago while playing with a Beagle dog owned by a staff member of the school. In late December, after developing symptoms of rabies, she was admitted to a private hospital near Bhat Circle on 30 December for treatment. She died there on the morning of 17 January. The dog had died on 17 October.
The deceased had also served as an advisor in the Ministry of Health, Government of India, contributing significantly to public health initiatives, including HIV and tuberculosis prevention. At the time of her death, she was serving as an advisory member at a renowned school in Gandhinagar.
The incident comes at a time when a case regarding street dogs is being heard in the Supreme Court.
Notably, the Supreme Court last week pulled up the Centre and state governments during a hearing on the stray dogs case. The top court said that for every dog bite, states would have to pay compensation. It added that governments had “failed miserably” to implement rules to control the stray dog menace, as the problem had increased exponentially.
Rabies is mostly fatal once symptoms appear and immediate post-bite vaccination is critical, regardless of whether the dog is a pet or reportedly vaccinated. While pet dogs are generally immunised, India continues to record rabies deaths, largely linked to dog bites, especially from infected animals.
