KOZHIKODE: A 53-year-old woman, who was undergoing treatment after she was bitten by a stray dog, died on Monday.
The deceased, P Chandrika, a native of Perambra, died despite being administered the necessary vaccines, according to her close relatives.
Sources said that besides Chandrika, the same dog had bitten eight other people in the locality and all of them were administered rabies vaccine as per the instructions of the doctors at Perambra Government Hospital.
Local people said that the eight persons have not shown any symptoms of rabies so far and they are undergoing treatment at the Perambra hospital.
The dog had bitten Chandrika on her face and she was admitted to the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital early last week after she developed health issues.
But on Saturday midnight, the doctors at the MCH confirmed her death due to dog bite.
District Medical Officer Dr V Ummer Farook said, “We are yet to confirm the cause of death. Several tests have to be done for this. If the death was caused due to rabies, then it will be the second such case reported in the state in the past two months."
Earlier, similar deaths were reported at Kozhikode MCH during the past two years, a source said. Last month, a 19-year-old girl Sreelakshmi, of Mankara in Palakkad, died due to rabies after being bitten by a dog while she was going to college.
Though she was administered four doses of rabies vaccine, her life could not be saved.
‘Stray dog menace rampant’
In January, seven students of Perambra Higher Secondary School were attacked by stray dogs inside the campus.
Two of them were rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital owing to the severity of the injuries.
The remaining five students were taken to Perambra taluk hospital.
School authorities said stray dog menace is rampant near the school premises and often the students face the danger of dog bites. Headmaster Baby Sailesh said, “We had raised the issue with panchayat officials, but no action has been taken yet.”