Chennai: A boy aged three from Pallavaram is in critical condition, after he was mauled by a stray dog that entered his house, while he was watching television on Sunday afternoon. Ebenezer, son of Samuel, of 2nd street at Subramaniya Koil Nagar in Pallavaram was watching cartoon on TV, at his house. His father was asleep and mother Prabha was busy in the kitchen. A stray dog entered the house and attacked the child. The dog, which could not be controlled by his parents and neighbours rushed to their rescue. The dog bit the boy at 28 places.
Later, the dog ran out, attacked a puppy on the roadside, and after crossing half a kilometre, died on the spot. The boy was taken to the government hospital at Chromepet, where he was given first aid and basic treatment before he was referred to the Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital. The boy was again referred to the Institute of Child Health at Egmore the same night.
The child was admitted to the vaccine preventable siseases wing of the hospital. Hospital registrar S. Srinivasan said, “If the anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) is given to the particular person, there is nothing to worry even if the dog dies. The state government has enough stock of the vaccine and the child has been referred just because the injury was more.”
The child will be kept on observation for the next few weeks and all the five schedules of the ARV will be followed, he said and added that not all, who were bitten by stray dog or pet dog will be affected by Rabies. It depended on the immunity of the child and the virus possessed by the dog. But, all who were bitten by a dog will be vaccinated, as there was no treatment for Rabies. The hospital gives ARV to at least five children everyday.
“In addition to Subramaniya Koil Nagar, nearby areas that include Ethiraj street, Solomon street and Sundaresan street in Pallavaram have stray dog menace,” said Surendhar Kumar, a resident of Pallavaram. These dogs had bitten more than 15 people in the area in the last two months, he said.
When Pallavaram municipality commissioner S. Sivasubramanian was contacted, he said “The local body has involved Blue Cross of India to conduct animal birth control (ABC) and giving vaccination. Due to practical problems, the local body has not opened its own veterinary hospital to carry out ABC and vaccination.”
“But, the programmes got delayed due to the delay in appointing veterinary doctor, resulting in more number of dogs in the area. A doctor has been appointed recently and ABC and vaccination were done to more than 100 dogs in the municipality in the last week. More than 22 dogs were caught on Monday and Tuesday,” he adds.
General manager of Blue Cross of India, Dawn Williams says, “Among the southern Chennai suburbs, Pallavaram has more roadside eateries like tiffin stalls, beef stalls, fish and chicken stalls, which attracts more dogs from other areas.”
