Karachi: A 10-year-old girl from Digri in Mirpurkhas has died of rabies after being bitten on the face by a stray puppy nearly two months ago, as Sindh records yet another fatal case of a disease that is entirely preventable with timely medical care. The child was brought to Indus Hospital in Karachi late on Sunday night in critical condition and passed away todayafter developing full-blown rabies, doctors said.
Indus Hospital Korangi officials said the girl had not received any post-exposure vaccination or rabies immunoglobulin after the bite, allowing the deadly virus to progress unchecked. Four days before being brought to Karachi, she developed fever and altered mental status. By the time she reached the hospital, she was suffering from hydrophobia and aerophobia, classical signs of advanced rabies, leaving doctors with little option but to provide supportive care.
Her death comes just a day after a 75-year-old man from Lyari was brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre with advanced rabies, months after being bitten by a dog and without receiving timely treatment.
Health officials confirmed that Sindh has already reported multiple rabies cases this year, raising alarm over what doctors describe as a worsening public health crisis driven by uncontrolled stray dog populations and weak bite management at the community level.
Medical experts say rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, but can be completely prevented if wounds are immediately washed with soap and running water and the patient is given timely rabies vaccination and, where indicated, rabies immunoglobulin. They warn that delays, misinformation and lack of access to post-bite care continue to cost lives, particularly in rural and low-income urban areas.
Public health specialists have repeatedly called for sustained mass dog vaccination campaigns, effective population control of stray dogs and uninterrupted availability of rabies vaccines and immunoglobulin at government hospitals. They say sporadic dog culling drives and temporary awareness campaigns have failed to address the root of the problem, leaving people in Sindh at the mercy of stray dogs and vulnerable to a disease that should no longer be claiming lives in 2026.
Doctors urged parents and caregivers to treat every dog bite, scratch or lick on broken skin as a medical emergency and to seek care immediately, stressing that no traditional remedy or home treatment can prevent rabies once exposure has occurred.
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