Bangladesh is marking World Rabies Day today, Monday 28 September, alongside other countries, under the theme 'Rabies elimination: what we must do together'. Government and private organisations have arranged various programmes for the day.

Rabies is caused by a virus of the rhabdovirus family that spreads among dogs, foxes, bats, mongooses and other warm-blooded animals, and is found in almost every country. According to the World Health Organization, rabies kills about 59,000 people a year in more than 150 countries, about 95 per cent of them in Asia and Africa.

RTV Online found that the number of people bitten or scratched by cats has risen markedly at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mohakhali, Dhaka, which now sees 400 to 500 such patients a day on average.

Experts say the disease can be fully prevented if the right treatment is taken immediately after a bite or scratch, so seeing a doctor quickly is vital, and raising public awareness matters alongside treatment. Owners of livestock and pets, and farmers, should likewise not delay after a bite.

In 1885 Louis Pasteur and his colleagues successfully vaccinated nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog, and the vaccine later won worldwide acceptance. Pasteur died on 28 September 1895; the day has been observed as World Rabies Day every year since 2007 to honour his work and raise awareness.

Photo: Albert Edelfelt / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Source: RTV Online