Seven-year-old Minhaj of Gazipur was bitten by a dog on his way home from school and given two doses of rabies vaccine on a doctor's advice. When the third dose was due, no vaccine could be found in hospital or in the market, his father Monjur Hossain said, so he brought the boy to the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali, Dhaka. A World Rabies Day report by Amar Desh's Golam Mostafa describes shortages in district after district.

Victims say the shortage is worst outside Dhaka, pharmacies charge several times the price, and patchy supply means many cannot complete their doses on time. Doctors say a deep, bleeding bite needs both anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG), yet RIG supply has long stopped at many district and upazila government hospitals.

According to the Communicable Disease Control (CDC) branch of the Directorate General of Health Services, 500,000 to 600,000 people a year are bitten by animals and about 50 die; rabies deaths were 42 in 2023, 58 in 2024 and 59 in 2025. Annual demand for the vaccine is 600,000 to 700,000; hospital and directorate sources say the lack of an operational plan has caused shortages at district level.

The Mohakhali hospital's outpatient department now sees about 1,200 patients a day, most from remote areas. Superintendent Dr Asma Khan said about 65 per cent are cat-bite cases, including bites from pets, and women and children are hit hardest. Consultant Dr Ariful Basar said bites from infected animals can pass rabies to livestock as well as people, and that after a bite the wound should be washed quickly with soap and water and treatment sought without panic.

Dr Mohammad Nazmul Hasan, assistant director of the CDC branch, said about 900,000 doses of rabies vaccine and 300,000 doses of immunoglobulin are being supplied this financial year according to institutions' reported needs, and that there is currently no vaccine shortage.

Photo: Bryan M. Ilyankoff, U.S. Navy / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Source: Amar Desh