Demand for rabies vaccines rises 63pc: Study

FE ReportThe demand for rabies vaccines in the country has surged by more than 63 per cent this year mainly due to awareness about the deadly disease, according to a US-based research organisation. Rabies is a disease caused by a virus. Symptoms usually start 2-8 weeks after being bitten or scratched by an animal (usually a dog) carrying the rabies virus. It causes spasms, hydrophobia, madness, paralysis and usually death. Symptoms may occur months or even years after a bite from an infected animal. The virus passes through the cut skin and travels (gradually) through the nervous system. IMS, the US based pharmaceutical market intelligence, said the market size of the vaccines is now over Tk 450 million (including retail and institutional sales). There are two vaccines -- Rabipur of Novartis and Verorab, a product of Sanofi of France. Rabipur is the market leader in the country. Doctors at the ICDDR,B (international centre for diarrhoeal disease and research, Bangladesh) said the demand for the vaccines is rising mainly due to awareness of the disease. He said people bitten by cat and rat are also taking the vaccines adding: "There is necessity for taking the injections to prevent the disease." Visitors at the ICDDR,B said they prefer to take the vaccines at the government hospitals as the prices of the vaccines have been rising each year. They said the prices of vaccines have been increased by Tk 60 this year to Tk 610 for each dose. People who are bitten by dogs and cats need five doses within 28 days of biting. Officials at Renata, the distributor of Rabipur, said the prices have increased mainly due to higher import cost. Kaiser Kabir, managing director of Renata told the FE: "Actually the price of this vaccine is government-controlled. The present rise is mainly due to depreciation of local currency against US dollar." Rabipur has market shares around Tk 350 million in the country. Visitors alleged that city corporations are presently not killing stray dogs resulting in the rise in dog bites. Until the two French scientists Louis Pasteur and Emile Roux developed the first rabies vaccine in 1885, every infection with rabies resulted in death. At present, the UK is virtually free from rabies but the disease is prevalent in most of the world. Worldwide, there are about 50,000 human cases each year, most commonly in India. Though foxes are the main carriers of the disease, dogs, cats, cattle, horses, badgers, deer, raccoons, bats and skunks also carry the virus. A bite from any of these animals from any country outside the UK should be taken very seriously, doctors said.