SARAH volunteers from Australia work in Sikkim schools to generate awareness on rabies and dog bite prevention

Dr. KATE ABEL

Each year there are 30,000 human deaths from rabies in India, and it is estimated that 60% of these deaths are in children. About 15 million people are bitten by animals, mostly dogs, in India every year. The incidence of animal bites is 17.4 per 1000 population. A person is bitten every 2 seconds and someone dies from rabies every 30 minutes.

In Sikkim, more than 1000 people are bitten by dogs and require hospital treatment each year.  In Gangtok alone, there were 539 registered cases of dog bites in humans in 2004-2005. Prior to the initiation of the Sikkim Anti-Rabies and Animal Health (S.A.R.A.H.) Division, there were on average 2-3 human deaths in Sikkim each year from rabies.

This has cost the state of Sikkim more than Rs 4 crore due to the large medical cost, loss of income due to illness, livestock losses, and the physical and psychological effects of rabies. It also affected tourism as the presence of aggressive dogs and the concern about being infected with rabies deters tourists from visiting this beautiful state of India. Each year, rabies prevention and medical treatment alone costs India around Rs 400 crore.

The SARAH Division of the Department of AH, LF & VS in Gangtok aims to eradicate rabies from Sikkim and to improve the health and welfare of animals. By improving animal health, this improves the health of people in Sikkim as animals carry diseases that can be transmitted to people.  This is the first government-sanctioned animal welfare and rabies control program in India. The S.A.R.A.H. Program is a joint collaboration between the Australian charity organisation Vets Beyond Borders, the French charity Brigette Bardot Foundation and the Sikkim Government.

Due to the concerted effort of the S.A.R.A.H program, there have been no human deaths in Sikkim due to rabies since 2006 and there has been a dramatic reduction in dog bite cases in Sikkim. Sikkim will soon be the first Indian state to be declared rabies-free. This is a huge achievement and great milestone for the S.A.R.A.H. Program.

From the past two weeks, four Australian volunteers from Vets Beyond Borders - Dr Kate Abel (veterinary surgeon and program manager), Aashima Auplish, Alison Clarke and Trent Van Zanten (Vet students) - travelled all the way from Australia to visit schools in Sikkim and teach local students and teachers about rabies control and its prevention, dog bite prevention and treatment, dog behaviour and pet husbandry including training and socialisation to prevent dog aggression. Preventing the community from being bitten by dogs will save Sikkim a lot of money and have a large positive impact on the local economy and public health.

Inadequate knowledge about dog behaviour and how to approach dogs is almost always the cause of dog bites in Sikkim and the effects of dog bites are far-reaching and significant. Most dog bites are due to people provoking dogs and are usually accidental in children. The most common reasons include touching a dog in inappropriate places (such as on top of the head, the tail or the legs and feet), patting a dog while they are eating or sleeping and patting a female dog with puppies.

The schools the Australian volunteers of SARAH at were: Deorali Girls Senior Secondary School, PNG School, Luing Government School, Bojoghari Government Senior Secondary School, Lumsey Government Junior High School, Tadong Government School, Mount Zion Kidzee School, Enchey Government Senior Secondary School, Phodong Government Senior Secondary School, Namchi Government School, Namchi Government Girls School and Biraspati Parsai Government Senior Secondary School.

They also presented at a village public meeting in Singbel Makha. In total they educated more than 8,700 people (children and adults).

The following topics were addressed in the workshops:

-           Dog behaviour – the students learnt how to identify a happy dog, a scared dog and an angry (aggressive) dog

-           How to approach and handle dogs, in particular street dogs and dogs unfamiliar to the students and how to avoid getting bitten – dogs should only be approached if their owner says that the dog is friendly. They should walk up slowly, not run, and crouch down to the dog’s eye-level. The dog should only be patted on the back, shoulders and chest. A dog should never be patted on its head, feet or tail. People should never hit or kick dogs as this makes them aggressive and children should not pull or step on dogs’ tails.

-           Which specific situations students should avoid approaching or handling a dog – specifically, if the dog is sleeping, eating, has puppies, is scared, is aggressive or has rabies, the dog should not be touched.

-           How to treat and prevent rabies. Once a person has rabies, it is fatal and cannot be treated. The best method to prevent rabies is VACCINATION of both people and dogs.

-           What to do if a person is bitten by a dog, how to behave to avoid further bites and how to prevent the student from getting rabies – if a person is bitten by a dog, they should tell someone immediately to obtain help. They should then immediately wash the bite wound for at least 10 minutes with soap and water. The person who was bitten should go to hospital the same day to receive an anti-rabies vaccine (injection). To avoid being bitten by any aggressive dog, people should not run away or scream or wave their arms and legs. They should stand still (like a tree) and ignore the dog. If the dog bites you, you should curl up into a ball (like a rock) to protect your face, neck, chest and stomach.

-           General pet care and husbandry, including what to feed a dog, how to groom and wash your dog, and recommended veterinary treatment for all healthy dogs (vaccination, worming, flea treatment and sterilisation/family planning).

 All pet dogs – even if they are healthy – should go and see a vet. Your dog should be vaccinated for rabies and other major diseases like Distemper and sterilised (have family planning surgery to prevent the dog from having or making puppies), both male and female dogs. This helps to prevent the spread of rabies and reduce the population of stray dogs.

Pet dogs should be walked with a leash once every day for at least 30 minutes and kept confined to your property to avoid getting in dog fights and being infected by rabies. It also helps prevent your dog from getting injured by cars. If it’s a big dog then it will require an aggressive exercise on daily basis. Dogs should never be chained up, especially if it is for several hours or more, as this makes the dog get bored and frustrated. This will make your dog more likely to be aggressive and bite you.

Dogs should be groomed and treated monthly for fleas and worms, which can be spread to people if they are not treated.

At the end of the workshop there was the opportunity for children, teachers and adults to ask questions. Many intelligent questions were asked, which showed that the students had really listened and understood what was being taught.  The students were extremely polite and respectful and the volunteers were very impressed by this. The educational sessions were very successful and the volunteers greatly look forward to returning to Sikkim.

The volunteers from Australia offer sincere thanks to Dr Thinlay N Bhutia, Programme Coordinator from S.A.R.A.H., for his assistance in arranging these workshops.

[The writer is Education Program Manager with Vets Beyond Borders SARAH]