During the last 6 months, there have been cases of more than 2.3 lakh dog bites inside Karnataka. According to the official data released on Sunday, 19 people died of rabies during this period, which is a faster increase than last year. Overall, the state recorded 3.6 lakh dog bites and 42 rabies in 2024 in the state.
According to data shared with PTI by the Integrated Disease Monitoring Program of the State Health Department, 2,31,091 dog bites and 19 rabies were reported in Karnataka between 1 January to 30 June this year.
In comparison, there were 1,69,672 cases of dog bites and 18 deaths from rabies in the same period last year. The data shows that there has been an increase of about 36.20 percent in cases of dog bites compared to the same period of 2023.
Recently, the girl was attacked by a dog
Recently, this wave of concern increased from a viral video, in which this week was seen attacking and dragging a three -year -old girl by two stray dogs on the streets of Hubli. Harsh Gupta, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, said that the situation is not out of control.
He said, “Now the number of cases is more visible because their reporting is being done in a more accurate manner. Earlier similar incidents were happening, but now better reporting is happening.”
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‘Efforts are being made to reduce cases …’
Referring to the efforts of the department to curb such incidents, Harsh Gupta said, “We are focusing on spreading awareness, training doctors to treat dog bites, to decide the availability of adequate drugs and direct the urban local bodies and rural administration to control the population of stray dogs.”
He stressed that even a minor scratch or small bite requires medical attention, because they can also cause infection. Gupta said, “These efforts are gradually gaining momentum and we hope that the situation will be better in the coming days.”
Health officials said that the reporting of dog bites and rabies deaths had been the highest since 2022, when Karnataka had declared human rabies a notified disease under the Karnataka epidemic disease Act, 2020. Since then, all government and private health centers have been made mandatory to the State Health Department to inform all suspected, potential and human rabies cases.
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What is the situation in different areas?
According to the data, the highest number of cases of dog bites were reported in Vijaypura, followed by 13,831 cases in the BBMP border area, Hasan, Dakshin Kannada and Bagalkot. 4,408 cases of dog bites were registered in Bengaluru rural, while 8,878 cases were registered in Bangalore urban area.
In 19 rabies deaths recorded between January and June this year, the highest number of cases were registered in the Bengaluru urban area, followed by five cases in Belagavi. One death was registered in Bagalkot, Ballari, Chikkallapura and Shivamogga. The lowest cases of dog bites were reported in Yadgir, followed by Chamarajanagar and Kodagu.
Harsh Gupta, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, obeyed that much more can be done to stop deaths, but the challenge still remains serious. He said that there is a need to control regularly to control the population of stray dogs and to prevent rabies outbreaks.
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