Bhopal, (Samajweekly) The death of a buffalo and her calf following a dog bite created panic among people at a village in Madhya Pradesh, prompting them to rush to the hospital for rabies vaccine.
The incident took place at a village in Gwalior district.
As the news of the death of the buffalo and her calf spread on Thursday, people in the village became worried. They panicked and rushed to a local healthcare centre as they had consumed milk of the buffalo that died.
Upon hearing the news of the death of buffalo, one after another person started rushing for a rabies vaccine.
Gathering of a large number of people surprised the medical staff and they learned that a buffalo and its calf had died after being bitten by a rabid stray dog.
“This caused an alarm when hundreds of people realised that the ‘raita’ that they had consumed a day before at a religious ceremony was made from the curd of the same buffalo. Therefore, they rushed to get vaccinated,” said a doctor posted in the hospital in Dabra town of Gwalior district.
As per reports, the milk of the same buffalo was also delivered into many houses. People panicked knowing that the dog which had bitten him was rabid.
As soon as the news spread, people started fearing that they might contract rabies from the milk and curd.
With a limited stock of rabies vaccine against around 1,000 people who gathered there, the medical staff had to face a tough time to convince people. They wanted to get vaccinated to save themselves.
As the situation worsened, officers from Gwalior Medical College and Infectious Disease Centre had to rush to Dabra to control the situation.
With the high demand for rabies injection, the PHC also ran out of anti-rabies stocks.
Nearly 1,000 people wanted to get anti-rabies shots but only one of them got the jabs, he further added. However, around 150 villagers were not convinced and were given anti-rabies shots. Many of them even approached private hospitals to get vaccinated.
