Imphal, March 25: Informing that official report on loss of three human lives due to dog bites in Thoubal district was submitted to the district's Deputy Commissioner on March 10, chief Medical Officer, Thoubal Dr Ksh Manglem said experts of Association for Prevention and control of Rabies in India (APCRI) would arrive in the state in April first week to investigate the situation.

Speaking to media persons at Thoubal today, Dr Manglem, who is also the life member of APCRI and treating/studying the disease in his Thoubal clinic for the last 15 years informed of his personal contact and experience with only three out of the casualty figures highlighted in daily papers.

The three were also referred to RIMS Hospital as the anti-rabies clinic he is running is not adequately equipped to deal with the scale and gravity of the disease, he added.

Before succumbing to the dog bites the patients were confined in the isolation ward of the hospital, he maintained.

Dr manglem also speculated that the casualty figure may be more than those reported so far but conceded he could not identify the victims at the current juncture.

In addition to the disease outbreak and casualty figures having been provided to the DC and State's health authorities APCRI officials on being informed of the life threatening disease responded positively and agreed to study the situation on their arrival, Dr Manglem iterated.

Sharing his medical expertise he said unlike infection of diseases like plague, cholera or yellow fever suspected rabies cases are seldom reported there-by endangering life of the dog bite victims.

The Chief Medical Officer further suggested that rather than reliance on academic laboratory diagnosis of the disease clinical treatment of infected persons is a far better option and significant to reduce fatalities.

Cautioning that every dog bite need to be tended and treated without any delay and citing prevalence of rabies in some thoubal district areas, he cited a case of one Kangabam Gopal and his grand-daughter named Kabita of Charangpat brought to his clinic for dog bite treatment in August last.

While timely medication upon the two averted possible casualty the head portion of the dog on being sent and examined at Central Research Institute in Kasauli (P) through the State veterinary authorities confirmed that the dog involved in the incident was rabies positive.

He also asserted that reported symptoms like hydrophobia (fear of water) and aerophobia (wind fear) evident in the victims before succumbing to the dog bites in various places of the district leaves no room to suspect that the cases are not rabies infections.

While the medical officer continued to explain other symptoms of rabies including paralytic state after being bitten by dog the victims' families narrating their personal experiences during the media briefing at the CMO's conference hall also recalled of witnessing the victims suffer with similar symptoms.

Suggesting preventive medication for veterinary employees, postmen, mediamen, security personnel etc whose duties expose them or are vulnerable to dog bites Dr Manglem said there is hardly any room for leniency on the matter as once the infection develops the risk factor of falling prey to rabies disease is cent percent.

Under any circumstance consulting doctors and medical experts as soon as possible after being bitten is the only means for survival, warned the CMO.

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