RAJAPALAYAM: A rabid dog has bitten around 60 people in different areas here on Saturday. This created panic among the residents.
After a day-long hunt, the Rajapalayam Municipal officials caught the dog which died on the way to the veterinary hospital.
Sources said that on Friday around 9.30 am, the dog in the area of Kanmaipatti started biting the people of the area. As the dog was chased away by the people, it went to different areas such as Sammandhapuram, Thoppupatti, Ambalapuli Bazaar, Chattirapatti Road, Kamarajar Nagar, Pachai Madam and attacked around 60 people. Of them, 38 were administered the anti- rabies vaccine in the Government Rajapalayam Hospital and were referred to the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai for further treatment. The others were given treatment at private hospitals.
The Chief Medical Officer at the Government Hospital, Rajapalayam, N Babuji said, “We have administered anti-rabies vaccine to 38 people.”
He said as the dog was ferocious, it is suspected that the dog might have been affected with rabies. Based on the order of the Joint Director of Health, Kadiresan, immunoglobulin injections were brought to the Government Hospital, Rajapalayam, during the evening to treat the patients.
On learning about the incident, the officials from the Rajapalayam Municipality launched a hunt to catch the rabid dog.
Sanitary officer P Elango said, “As soon as we came to know about this, a team of around 23 persons were on the lookout for the stray.”
The dog was caught by the officials after nearly a three-hour-long hunt.
An official from the veterinary department at Rajapalayam said that as the dog was aggressive, they couldn’t say it was affected with rabies. “In order to confirm it we would send the brain of the dog in a preserved state to the government veterinary institute in Namakkal district. Only after the study is done at the institute we would be able to confirm whether the stray had rabies,” he added.