Archive Number 20100228.0666
Published Date 28-FEB-2010
Subject PRO/AH/EDR> Rabies, canine, human - India: (JD) susp, RFI
RABIES, CANINE, HUMAN - INDIA: (JHARKHAND) SUSPECTED, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
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A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>
Date: Sun 28 Feb 2010
Source: CNN-IBNLive, IANS report [edited]
<http://ibnlive.in.com/news/man-eats-dogs-heart-to-prevent-rabies-after-bite/110838-3.html?from=tn>
Man eats dog's heart to "prevent rabies" after bite
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A labourer in Jharkhand, who was bitten by a street dog, killed the animal,
cut out its heart and ate it to protect himself from rabies.
After the dog bit him on Saturday [27 Feb 2010], a 30 year old man, a
resident of Dakra village on the outskirts of Ranchi, caught hold of the
animal and killed it by flinging it on stones, local media reports said on
Sunday [28 Feb 2010]. When the dog died, he removed its heart with the help
of a pair of scissors and ate it raw. The dog had bitten him several times
during the course of being killed. "Now, there will be no effect of rabies
on my body," the man was quoted as saying by the local media. According to
him, he did not need medical help as he did the treatment by eating the
heart of the dog.
The dog had bitten 7 people of the village in the last 7 days, and the
villagers had been terrorised by the animal.
--
communicated by:
HealthMap Alerts
via ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
[Dogs have been, and still are, the main reservoir of rabies in India.
Other animals, such as monkeys, jackals, horses, cattle, and rodents, seem
to bite incidentally on provocation, and the fear of rabies leads the
victim to seek post exposure prophylaxis. In India, about 15 million people
are bitten by animals, mostly dogs, every year and need post exposure
prophylaxis. Since 1985, India has reported an estimated 25 000 to 30 000
human deaths from rabies annually (the lower estimate is based on projected
statistics from isolation hospitals in 1985). Because rabies is not a
notifiable disease in India [at least up to 2008], and there has been no
organized surveillance system of human or animal cases, the actual number
of deaths may be much higher. Most animal bites in India (91.5 per cent)
are by dogs, of which about 60 per cent are strays and 40 per cent pets.
The incidence of animal bites is 17.4 per 1000 population. A person is
bitten every 2 seconds, and someone dies from rabies every 30 minutes [see
"Rabies in India" at <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2244675/>].
It seems probable that the victim of this attack and the 7 others bitten by
the same dog in Dakra village have been exposed to rabies virus infection.
The belief that consumption of the raw heart of a rabid dog will provide
protection against rabies virus infection is bizarre. It would be
interesting to know, however, if this is a general belief in rural India or
merely the rationalisation of the aggrieved victim.
Jharkhand is a state in eastern India formed from the southern part of
Bihar in 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the
north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and
West Bengal to the east. The industrial city of Ranchi is its capital.
Ranchi district can be located in the map of Jharkhand at
<http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/jharkhand/jharkhand.htm>. The
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of India can be accessed at:
<http://healthmap.org/r/008o>. - Mod.CP]