A four-year-old girl who was bitten by stray dogs and was battling for life for months died in a Bengaluru hospital on Sunday night.
The deceased, Khadira Banu, who was a resident of Davanagere town, died after developing rabies. The girl was attacked by stray dogs while she was playing outside her residence in April.
The family had taken her first to a private hospital, and she showed signs of recovery. However, recently, she started to vomit, and they found out that she was suffering from rabies.
On Monday, Banu’s uncle Sajid said they had spent Rs 9-10 lakh to save the girl. “We tried all means to save her. She was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Bengaluru for all these days. There are a lot of stray dogs in Davanagere town, and no one has taken any measures to curtail the problem,” he added.
“We do not want any child to go through this. The dogs bit her face, and though the doctors gave her medicines, the infection spread,” he further said.
On August 12, two students of Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics University in Bengaluru were attacked by dogs while they were on their morning walk on the campus. In July this year, Seethappa, 68, who had stepped out of his house around 3 am, was attacked by a pack of dogs in Kempegowda Layout, Kodigehalli. In August 2024, retired school teacher Rajdulari Sinha was attacked by stray dogs inside the Air Force East residential camp in Jalahalli, and she died later.
According to the state health department, Karnataka has reported 2.81 lakh dog bite cases and 26 resultant deaths till July 31 this year. Vijayapura reported 15,527 dog bite cases, followed by Bengaluru city (13,831), Hassan (13,388), Dakshina Kannada (12,524), and Bagalkot (12,392).