Rabies

Vaccine hesitancy: A look at two centuries of people's anti-vax sentiment

In 1796, physician Edward Jenner got the idea to use milder cowpox virus on a child to stimulate immune response after he noticed milkmaids rarely got smallpox.

World Rabies Day 2020: India accounts for 36% of all rabies deaths; poor awareness, insufficient dog vaccination complicate fight

On World Rabies Day, observed every year on 28 September, international organisations and governments join hands to spread awareness globally about this deadly but preventable disease.

Coronavirus Outbreak: From hunting bats to tearing into live chicken for pious reasons, Indians aren’t exactly new to animal pathogens

Even as India battles the Wuhan virus, it’s time to introspect on the path ahead: what happened there could happen here, too.

The Euthanasia Debate: Should rabies patients be given the right to die with dignity?

An NGO filed a PIL questioning a judgement passed by the Apex Court in 2018: while the judgement allowed passive euthanasia, it excluded rabies patients.

Cats get their way: Better for cats, caretakers that they stay indoors, study finds

Cats transmit diseases to caretakers & while you may not mind, some are potentially lethal, study finds.

Bengaluru civic body's shoddy manner of sterilisation and vaccination of street dogs is no method to bring down rabies risk

Lack of emphasis on the quality of animal birth control surgeries, coupled with initial contractor selection processes not being linked to merit alone, has led to various instances where street dogs have been found with their entrails out due to reasons like low-quality suturing techniques.

India bans import of rabies vaccine from tainted Chinese biotech company after product safety scare

A report last week alleged that Changchun Changsheng Biotechnology had fabricated records and was ordered to cease production of the rabies vaccine.

Open letter to a stray dog: We have done more harm than good to your breed, and other animals

Writes equal rights activist Harish Iyer on the culling of stray dogs: "Killing is never the answer, and witnessing something as horrible as culling of a bleeding, screaming, crying sentient being leaves a horrible dent in the minds of people who perpetuate it and also those who witness it."

The violent street dog in Kerala is symbolic of the physical decay of the state

That feral dog on the street is both real and metaphoric. It summarises the fast-spreading physical decay of Kerala, known for its stunning looks, and the reversal of some of its famous public health gains.

Reservoir dogs and furious rabies: WHO wants to eliminate rabies in India by 2020 but how?

The men, a team from the NGO CUPA, are on a mission: to catch stray dogs, sterilise them and vaccinate them against rabies.