Kids don't know how to face dogs, get bitten

Hyderabad: Most dog-bite victims are children as they are easy prey and don’t retaliate. Also, children often tease and chase dogs, aggravating them in the process.

Ms Vasanthi Vadi, secretary for the NGO Peoples for Animals said that two days after minister K.T. Rama Rao took charge of municipal administration, there was an alleged dog bite death.

“When we investigated the case, the family admitted that the kid was not bitten by a dog. She had gone to relieve herself. She saw a sleeping dog, got scared and slipped and fell. She hurt her head and died due to a blood clot. The death had nothing to do with the dog,” she said.

She said strays are most vulnerable and are blamed for dog-bites. “If you tease them, even pets get irritated. Many don’t know how to interact with dogs. They abuse them, tie them up,” she said.

“Often kids don’t know how to react. If they start running, a dog’s tendency is to chase. Young dogs think it’s a game. Often, young dogs will hold your hand with their teeth, those who own dogs know this. But others take this as a dog bite,” Ms Vadi said.

A city-based study done in 2015 and published in Indian Journal of Applied Research to determine the incidence and analysis of animal bite cases among paediatric age groups revealed that more than 51 per cent of animal bite victims were children.

Mr T. Dinesh Kumar Singh, retired deputy director IPM, Hyderabad said that the most vulnerable age group was 15 years or less.

Of the 10,254 animal bite cases attended by the ARV clinic at  the Institute of Preventive Medicine. 3,249 patients (31.68 per cent) were 15 years or younger.

Of the total number, 95 per cent of the victims were exposed to dogs, of which 52 per cent were pets, 8 per cent street dogs and 34 per cent ‘observable stray dogs’ (abandoned pet dogs), and the rest were pets from the neighbourhood, according to the study.

Another researcher, Ms Saileela Kondapa-neni, professor of microbiology, at the KIMS, told this newspaper, “There is a need for education, awareness, pre-exposure prophylaxis and booster for children in rabies endemic areas. The research community has to cater information to policy makers, enabling them to bring effective legislation.”