Should dog bites be made notifiable and what would that achieve?

Over the past few months, the stray dog crisis has rocked the country. The numbers are staggering and how to deal with them has elicited multiple, heated opinions. One crucial aspect to this however is rabies: a disease that is completely preventable and yet claims many lives, primarily of children, every year. While the government states that there were 54 human rabies deaths in 2024, a research paper in The Lancet earlier this year put the number at over 5,700 every year. More of concern is cases that have emerged recently – of people dying even after having taken the rabies vaccination.What is the rabies situation in India? Why does the vaccine not work in some cases – are there systemic gaps that need to be addressed? Where does India stand on surveillance of rabies cases, and do dog bites need to be made notifiable?

Guest: Dr Subramanian Swaminathan Director of infectious diseases, Glenagles Global Hospital, president, Clinical Infectious Diseases Society of India

Host: Zubeda Hamid

Edited and produced by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian

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