06-05-2025
Implement pre-exposure prophylaxis programme in State to prevent rabies death: KGMOA
The Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA) has demanded that a pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programme be rolled out in the wake of an increase in rabies deaths in the State.
The KGMOA said on Tuesday that once a person developed symptoms of rabies, it was 100% fatal. Of the 59,000 lives lost to rabies globally, nearly 20,000 were in India. Of them, nearly 40% were children. In Kerala, though the number of rabies deaths had declined to 20-25 a year, there was a need to adopt a sustainable prevention model, it said.
If a person who had taken PrEP vaccine sustained an animal bite, they would have to take only two booster shots. There would be no need to administer the expensive and at times difficult to obtain immunoglobulin serum, the KGMOA said in a statement.
Among children
The association recommended that the PrEP programme be launched among children first. Children were unlikely to communicate the details of the bite or look after the wounds properly. They were especially vulnerable if the bites were on the face or hands, it said.
A task force comprising experts should be formed to draw up a programme to administer PrEP in phases to cover the State's entire population.
Stray dog menace
After children, health workers, veterinary officers, forest officers, sanitation workers, and others who were at high risk should be given the PrEP vaccination. Effective steps should be taken to control the stray dog menace. Besides administering PrEP at proper times, vaccinating dogs, and holding continuous public awareness programmes should be integrated with the current anti-rabies programme.
Efforts should also be made to include PrEP in the universal immunisation programme.
A pre-exposure vaccination programme will create another Kerala model and help the State achieve the global goal of eliminating all rabies deaths by 2030 even earlier, the KGMOA said.
