Rabies

SC to hear PIL seeking right to 'euthanasia' for rabies patients on Feb 10

The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday a PIL seeking the right to passive euthanasia for persons afflicted with rabies. A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K Vinod Chandran agreed to take up the petition filed by NGO All Creatures Great and Small on February 10 after the matter was mentioned for listing. In 2020, the top court issued notice to the Centre and sought responses from ministries of health and environment on the petition that was filed in 2019. In its plea, the NGO prayed that a procedure should be laid down for rabies patients to allow them or their guardians to opt for the assistance of physicians for assisted dying or passive euthanasia. On March 9, 2018, a five-judge Constitution bench of the SC held that right to life includes right to die and legalised passive euthanasia by allowing the creation of a 'living will' that could provide terminally ill patients or those in persistent vegetative state (PVS) with no hope of recovery a dignified exit by refusing medic

Three out of every four animal bites in India due to dogs: Lancet study

Three in every four animal bites are due to dogs, with over 5,700 deaths in humans estimated to occur each year due to rabies in India, according to a study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-study conducted a nationwide community-based survey from March, 2022 to August, 2023, covering 60 districts in 15 states. Over 78,800 households involving 3,37,808 individuals were interviewed about animal bites in the family, anti-rabies vaccination and deaths due to animal bite. Researchers, including those from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, found that three in every four animal bites was a dog bite. Over 2,000 of those surveyed reported a history of animal bite -- 76.8 per cent of which (1,576) were dog bites. Further, over six per thousand people might be experiencing an animal bite, "translating into 9.1 million bites nationally", the authors said. "We estimated 5,

Nearly 3 mn dog bite cases reported in 2023, 286 persons died: Govt

Nearly 30.5 lakh cases of dog bites were reported during 2023 leading to death of 286 persons, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday. "As per the data captured in the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, total 30,43,339 number of dog bite cases reported during 2023. During the year, 286 persons died due to dog bite," Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. The number of anti-rabies shots for dog bite cases during the year 2023 was 46,54,398 as reported by National Centre for Disease Control. The health ministry has been implementing the National Rabies Control Programme since the 12th five-year plan in all states/Union Territories, except for Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, to prevent and control rabies in the country. "Further, dog population management is one of the key functions for controlling dog

Dog bite cases in India rise by 26.5% YoY to 2.75 million incidents in 2023

The states witnessing the least number of dog bite incidents were Nagaland (569), Mizoram (1,035), Ladakh (2,316), Manipur (2,511), and Arunachal Pradesh (3,757)

J'khand govt gives nod to declare cancer, rabies as notifiable diseases

The Jharkhand cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to declare cancer and rabies as notifiable diseases, which will pave the way for a database for such ailments. State cabinet secretary Vandana Dadel said, With the declaration of cancer and rabies as notifiable diseases, private and state-run hospitals, which are treating patients of such diseases, will have to inform the government so that a database can be created. It would also help draft long-term policy in future." The council of ministers also gave its nod to the Mukhyamantri Panchayat Protsahan Yojana and Swachh and Swasthya Panchayat Protsahan Yojana, under which 24 best gram panchayats from over 4,300 such institutions in 24 districts would be selected and honoured with Rs 10 lakh each. Dadel said that five block panchayats from five divisions of Jharkhand would also be selected and would be given Rs 15 lakh each as a reward. Under Gram Sabha Protsaha Purashkar, Rs 4 lakh will be given to 48 gram sabhas. Besides, two zi

'One Health' surveillance tool vital in rapid response to rabies outbreak

The use of an animal rescue system proved to be a vital "One Health" surveillance tool as part of a rapid response to a potentially deadly rabies outbreak in Pune city, a study has found. The research, published in the journal CABI One Health to coincide with World Rabies Day on September 28, highlights how toolssuch as Hawk Data Procan be "modified or adapted to other areas" and help eradicate rabies around the world. Robust and widely implementable "One Health" surveillance systems are needed to detect and control the spread of zoonotic infectious diseases including rabies, said Abi Tamim Vanak, lead author of the research from the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), in Bengaluru. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the true burden of rabies in India is not fully known but the researchers said disease is believed to cause up to 20,000 deaths every year. Dogs are the source of the vast majority of human rabies deaths, contributing up to

World Rabies Day 2023: Date, theme, history, importance, crucial facts

World Rabies Day (WDR) marked each September 28 serves as a worldwide drive to bring issues to light about rabies, a deadly zoonotic illness that kills large number of individuals every year

Economic development not enough to end rabies, affected by poverty: Study

In a significant study, Surrey researchers studied whether rabies instances are an unavoidable result of poverty or whether other development initiatives

Rabies is likely to spread in Sri Lanka in 2023 due to vaccine shortages

According to WHO data, Sri Lanka has achieved a successful reduction of human rabies deaths from 377 in the mid-1970s to 31 in 2021 due to its successful vaccination drive

Kerala seeks SC nod to kill violent, rabies-infected dogs after 5 deaths

After the continuous reports of stray dog attacks in Kerala, the state has decided to seek permission from the Supreme Court to kill violent and rabies-infected dogs

Cadila Pharma launches world's first novel 3-dose vaccine against rabies

The three-dose vaccine, named as 'ThRabis', is a recombinant nano-particle based G protein vaccine which is prepared using Virus-like Particle technology

Centre launches national action plan for rabies elimination by 2030

The Centre on the occasion of World Rabies Day on Tuesday launched a national action plan NAPRE for the elimination of dog mediated rabies by 2030. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala unveiled the National Action Plan for dog Mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030 (NAPRE). "The Ministers urged all the States and UTs to make Rabies a notifiable Disease," an official statement said. The two Union ministers also launched the Joint Inter-Ministerial Declaration Support Statement for the elimination of dog mediated rabies from India by 2030 through the One Health Approach. The Union Health Minister also spoke on the human cost extracted by the disease. Drawing from his own experience of contracting a zoonotic disease while treating an animal, Mandaviya acknowledged that most victims of the disease are those who are in the most productive years of their life. Zoonotic diseases like Rabies claims the lives of people in th

Rabies kills 59,000 people annually: WHO

Mass vaccinations of dogs, which transmit 95 per cent of rabies cases to humans, can eliminate the disease