Only a sixth of animal bite victims in India get antirabies treatment

India has the world’s highest incidence of rabies and 20 000 of the 55 000 deaths from rabies each year. An estimated 17.4 million animal bites occur in India every year, but 95% are from dogs, of which the country has some 25 million.1

Only three million bite victims receive appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), including wound cleansing, vaccination, and administration of immunoglobulin if needed.2 Death from rabies, which is endemic across the nation, can be averted with timely PEP.

During its …