CHENNAI: When four-and-a-half year old Austin suddenly succumbed to his spell of diarrhoea and vomiting on Monday, his parents had no idea that it had anything to do with a bite that he had received while playing with a stray dog outside their house in Ambattur in April. He was brought to the Institute of Child Health in Egmore and admitted on Sunday, said the Director in charge, Dr P Jeyachandran. As they suspected that he might have been bitten by a dog that was carrying the dreaded rabies virus, they rushed a sample of his blood and saliva for testing. However, the boy passed away on Monday morning. While the test results are yet to return, strong indications are there that he may be the first rabies-caused death of this year, in Chennai. Two months ago, three golfers were attacked and bitted by a rabid pig, but all of them have recovered well.Doctors who treated him opined that a delay in administering the anti-rabies shot might have led to his death. “He had been taken to a general practitioner initially, but the vaccine was not given,” confirmed a doctor. This raised some serious questions of negligence, they added. However, at that young age, it is very difficult to spot symptoms like hydrophobia or consider foaming at the mouth as aberrant behaviour, they added.According to Director of Public Health RT Porkai Pandian, whether it was rabies or not would be determined in the next two days. “There is no mass fear about rabies, nor have there been too many cases reported. All necessary vaccines are readily available,” he said.But doctors at the GGH said that though they administer the anti-rabies shots as a matter of course, the number of cases of dog bites has certainly spiked. “We have up to 15 people walk in with gashes and dog bites every day,” said a senior doctor.
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