HIDDEN RISKS OF DOG LICKS DEMAND ACTION

HOCKING reports from the UK’s Birmingham tell of an Indian-origin woman in her fifties who lost both hands, both legs and even her spleen after sepsis set in, triggered by nothing more dramatic than an affectionate lick on a small wound by her pet dog.

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The sheer ordinariness of the act makes the outcome unbearable. For those of us in India, this is not a distant curiosity. We already live with the daily dread of dog-related disease. According to the World Health Organization, nearly 20,000 rabies deaths occur in India annually, accounting for 36 percent of global fatalities.