<p>In a rare success, doctors from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (Nimhans), Bangalore, and the Army Command Hospital in Chandimandir Cantonment near here have successfully treated a 16-year-old boy suffering from rabies. <br /><br />The feat is rare since there have been only 14, including the boy, reported cases of rabies survivors in the world till date, Colonel F M H Ahmed, neurologist at Command Hospital, told Deccan Herald on Saturday. <br /><br />The boy, Hira Singh, was admitted to Military Hospital in May this year in a critical comatose state. He was bitten by a stray dog and was given four doses of anti-rabies vaccine. Eventually, he slipped into a coma, needed ventilator and airway support when brought to hospital with a diagnosis of rabies. <br /><br />The patient was valuated exhaustively, treated energetically, including a surgery for tracheostomy and gastrostomy, the doctors said on Saturday. The boy has since been breathing without any equipment support and has improved. </p>.<p>“He is “awake and in a partially paralysed state,” he said. Doctors from Nimhans along with experts of Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, used cutting edge molecular techniques to assist doctors at Military Hospital here. <br /><br />Leading the Nimhans Bangalore team, Prof Madhusudana, who is also the WHO expert on rabies and co-author of the first Indian report on a rabies survivor, found diagnostically high titers of neutralising antibodies in the patient samples corroborating the diagnosis of rabies. <br /><br />Dr Vivek Lal, Professor and Head of Neurology at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, evaluated and applauded the clinical management of the patient. <br /><br />At a talk on the subject organised here on Saturday, Dr Lal said: “The neurological disease had abated and the patient is indeed a rabies survivor. I never imagined that I would ever get to see a rabies survivor in my lifetime.” Colonel Ahmad said two more cases of rabies survivors have come to light — one in April this year at Medical College in Goa and the other from Bangalore. This takes the total number of rabies survivors worldwide to 14. </p>
<p>In a rare success, doctors from National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences (Nimhans), Bangalore, and the Army Command Hospital in Chandimandir Cantonment near here have successfully treated a 16-year-old boy suffering from rabies. <br /><br />The feat is rare since there have been only 14, including the boy, reported cases of rabies survivors in the world till date, Colonel F M H Ahmed, neurologist at Command Hospital, told Deccan Herald on Saturday. <br /><br />The boy, Hira Singh, was admitted to Military Hospital in May this year in a critical comatose state. He was bitten by a stray dog and was given four doses of anti-rabies vaccine. Eventually, he slipped into a coma, needed ventilator and airway support when brought to hospital with a diagnosis of rabies. <br /><br />The patient was valuated exhaustively, treated energetically, including a surgery for tracheostomy and gastrostomy, the doctors said on Saturday. The boy has since been breathing without any equipment support and has improved. </p>.<p>“He is “awake and in a partially paralysed state,” he said. Doctors from Nimhans along with experts of Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, used cutting edge molecular techniques to assist doctors at Military Hospital here. <br /><br />Leading the Nimhans Bangalore team, Prof Madhusudana, who is also the WHO expert on rabies and co-author of the first Indian report on a rabies survivor, found diagnostically high titers of neutralising antibodies in the patient samples corroborating the diagnosis of rabies. <br /><br />Dr Vivek Lal, Professor and Head of Neurology at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, evaluated and applauded the clinical management of the patient. <br /><br />At a talk on the subject organised here on Saturday, Dr Lal said: “The neurological disease had abated and the patient is indeed a rabies survivor. I never imagined that I would ever get to see a rabies survivor in my lifetime.” Colonel Ahmad said two more cases of rabies survivors have come to light — one in April this year at Medical College in Goa and the other from Bangalore. This takes the total number of rabies survivors worldwide to 14. </p>
