Boy dies of rabies in Karachi despite getting vaccine in Larkana.

KARACHI -- A nine-year-old boy diagnosed with rabies at the Indus Hospital (IH) on Wednesday morning died later in the day at the facility, hospital sources said.

This is the fifth case of rabies reported this year in Karachi and third at the IH which has so far seen around 3,000 cases of dog bite over the past four months.

According to the hospital sources, the patient had been brought from a Larkana village where he was severely bitten by a dog on the face 20 days ago.

Speaking to Dawn, Aftab Gohar, manager of the Rabies Prevention Centre at the IH, said the boy was brought to Karachi after he developed fever and complained of difficulty in swallowing two days ago.

'He reported to us on Wednesday with full-blown rabies, showing signs of hydrophobia and aerophobia,' he said, adding that the hospital admitted the boy for comfort care and counselled the family.

According to Mr Gohar, the dates on the document the family has shared with the hospital administration suggest that the boy had received three to four doses of anti-rabies vaccine at Larkana's Civil Hospital.

'But there is no record...