Dealing with the menace of stray dogs

There has been an alarming rise in number of stray dogs which menacingly roam cities and towns across the country under the very nose of the municipal authorities. Experts at a workshop held on the eve of World Rabies Day one and a half months ago under the auspices of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) said that rabies, a serious disease particularly common in dogs, causes nearly 2000 human deaths in the country per year.
The Financial Express (FE) in a report published in its issue of September 28 last, quoted  Director General of DLS, Dr Mosaddeqe Hossain as saying that dogs attack one in every 400 people in Bangladesh annually and injure a total number of 0.4 million. In addition to people who fall victims to dog bites, cattle are also not spared. The DLS workshop was told that about 35,000 cattle died of rabies in 2008. The market value of dead cattle is estimated at Taka 4.0 billion.
The Director General of DLS, however, said the number of cattle deaths due to rabies was reduced to 8,000 last year. The FE report quoted the DLS DG as saying that the government has taken various measures to combat rabies which resulted in reducing the rate of rabies infection.
The workshop was informed, as reported in the FE, that rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis. It can be transmitted from one species to another, such as from dogs to humans, commonly by a bite from an infected animal. Officials at the DLS said the rabies virus travels to the brain through the peripheral nerves.
Explaining the fatal disease, a DLS official said the incubation period of the disease is usually a few months in humans, depending on the distance the virus travels to reach the central nervous system. Once the rabies virus reaches the central nervous system and symptoms begin to show, the infection is virtually untreatable and usually fatal within days.
Health officials say if anti-rabies vaccine is administered quickly after bite, it develops anti-body and prevents the disease.
Anti-rabies vaccines available in pharmacies or some private health facilities are too expensive which is beyond the purchasing capacity of the majority of poor dog-bite victims. A full course of vaccine costs Taka 3000 to Taka 4000. Only a full course of vaccine can ensure the immunity against the fatal disease.
The vaccine, according to reports, is imported by local companies.  As the number of dogs continues to increase in the absence of culling by civic authorities, the need for increased volume of vaccines is urgently needed. A dog normally delivers five to eight puppies per year and less than a year they reach adulthood.  This has resulted in fast growth of stray dogs in urban and rural areas.
As we reported earlier in this column, the production of anti-rabies vaccine by the government remains suspended for quite a long time on the basis of a recommendation by the World Health Organisation (WHO).  The Public Health Institute for years used to produce the vaccine and supply those to government health facilities up to district level for use by the victims of dog bites free of cost. But the production of the vaccine had to be suspended as WHO found it ineffective for the prevention of canine madness. Health authorities say that the government plans to set up a plant for the production of modern anti-rabies vaccine but it is not known how much time it will take to start production of vaccine. So long local production of vaccine is not available and the country remains dependent on imported ones, public health will continue to face threat of the fatal disease - Hydrophobia - which has no cure anywhere in the world.
In Dhaka city, large numbers of stray dogs are found in every nook and corner of the residential areas. The Dhaka City Corporations (DCCs) are entrusted with the task of handling stray dogs. Not long ago people used to see droves of stray dogs being collected by the municipality and carted away in iron cages. But such activities are hardly noticeable in recent times.
Several months ago a DCC official had told the media that elimination of stray dogs 'is one of their on-going programme.' This is done in collaboration with the Public Health Department. He also said the DCC squad is sent immediately as soon as report about stray dogs is received at one of the DCC offices, he added.
(Email: khalilbdh@gmail.com)