Hidden risks of dog lick demand action
Shocking reports from the UK’s Birmingham tell of an Indian-origin woman in her fifties who lost both hands, both legs and even her spleen after sepsis set in, triggered by nothing more dramatic than an affectionate lick on a small wound by her pet dog. The sheer ordinariness of the act makes the outcome unbearable.
For those of us in India, this is not a distant curiosity. We already live with the daily dread of dog-related disease. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 20,000 rabies deaths occur in India annually, accounting for 36 percent of global fatalities.
The Supreme Court recently directed that stray dogs be sterilised, dewormed and immunised before release; rabid or aggressive animals be confined to shelters and feeding points be shifted away from crowded public streets. The court also stressed the strict implementation of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023. These are necessary steps. Yet policy still circles largely around rabies, bites and visible attacks.
The Birmingham case forces us to confront a sinister danger. It is not the first. In April 2017, the International Wound Journal documented a 41-year-old Austrian man who went into septic shock after allowing his dog to lick a leg wound. He survived, but only after losing both legs below the knee, his nose and all his fingers. Such cases rarely enter public debate because a lick appears harmless, even tender.
Experts say a dog’s saliva contains several bacteria, especially Capnocytophaga canimorsus, which can cause sepsis when the pathogen enters the bloodstream through an open wound or cut. People with low immunity, diabetics, the elderly, cancer patients undergoing treatment, organ transplant recipients, those with liver disease or on long-term steroid medications are at a higher risk. Sepsis or septicaemia is merciless. If neglected, the infection can turn into sepsis, the body can turn against itself and organs can begin to fail.
India has a growing pet culture and a vast vulnerable population. People must ensure affection does not replace caution. Any cut exposed to a dog’s tongue must be washed thoroughly. Monitor symptoms such as fever, confusion, rapid heartbeat and unusual pain. They need immediate medical care. Public health messaging must widen its lens, acknowledging that invisible infections can be as deadly as the feared bite on a dark street in our cities.