6-Year-Old Dies After Dog Bite Despite Vaccination: What Are the Possible Causes?

A six-year-old girl from Thane in Maharashtra died a month after she was bitten by a street dog, civic officials said. According to news reports, despite receiving four doses of the anti-rabies vaccine, Nisha Shinde could not be saved. Her family members said Nisha was playing outside her home last month when a community dog bit her on the shoulders and cheek. Her parents rushed her to the hospital, where she was injected with anti-rabies shots along with other treatment, which included tetanus injections. However, a day after receiving the final dose of anti-rabies vaccine, she developed a very high-grade fever and suffered a headache. Doctors also noticed changes in her behaviour, where she started banging her head against the bed and scratching

those nearby. She died in the hospital despite doctors trying to save her.

What are the possible causes of her death?

According to doctors, deaths after a dog bite - despite being given the anti-rabies shots - are rare but can occur due to various factors, a few of which include:

Delayed vaccination

Experts say immediately after the bite, it is imperative to wash the wound thoroughly with soap and running water for at least 15 minutes. Thereafter, you must rush the victim to the hospital for post-exposure prophylaxis for rabies. If the victim has not received the rabies vaccine promptly after exposure, the virus has established itself in the nervous system, thereby making vaccination ineffective.

Not an adequate immune response

Many people may not develop a strong immune response to the vaccine due to pre-existing health conditions, which make their immunity levels very low. Doctors say many medical conditions hinder their ability to respond effectively to the vaccine.

Severity of the bite

How the vaccination responds also depends on how severe the bite was. According to doctors, bites to areas where the nerve supply is present, like the face, neck, and hands, are easy for the virus to reach.

Vaccination type

In many cases, the vaccine is rendered ineffective due to expired medicine or the schedule not being followed properly, thereby leading to non-immunity from the virus.

Improper care of the wound

Insufficient cleaning of the wound also leaves enough virus particles to spread quickly in your blood.

Variability of virus stain

A few strains of rabies also exhibit different types of pathogenic characteristics and can evade the immune response triggered by the vaccine.

Not administering RIG

RIG, or immunoglobulin, gives quick and short-term antibodies that help neutralize the virus at the site of the wound, which gives your body's own immune system time to respond to the vaccine. However, if the patient has only been administered the vaccine and not RIG, the virus can affect the central nervous system faster.

What is rabies?

Rabies virus, also known as RABV, is transmitted through direct contact – like broken skin or mucous membranes in your eyes, nose, or mouth, with saliva or brain/nervous system tissue from an infected animal. Rabies is fatal but preventable. It can spread to people and pets if they are bitten or scratched by a rabid animal. Rabies virus gets into your body when the saliva of an infected animal gets into an open wound. It moves very slowly along nerves into your central nervous system - your brain and spinal cord. When it reaches your brain, the damage causes neurological symptoms. From there, rabies leads to coma and death.