Two-year-old boy dies of rabies in Quelimane – Mozambique

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Two-year-old boy dies of rabies in Quelimane – Mozambique

9:58 CAT | 10 Jul 2018

Photo: O País

A two-year-old child died of suspected “nonspecific rabies” according to the death certificate of Quelimane Central Hospital. The child named Josué, was bitten by a dog on the 10th of May at the gate of his parents’ residence while he was playing.

According to the victim’s father, Abid Candrinho, they immediately took the child to the livestock services [seviços de pecuária] on the same day he was bitten . They referred them to the Centre for Environmental Hygiene and Medical Examinations (CHAEM) where the minor was given a supposed rabies vaccine.

“They only administered a single dosage of the vaccine to our son and we then questioned why only one, because it is said that the rabies vaccine should be given in three to five doses progressively,” said the father. “When we got home, I called some specialists and was told that the rabies vaccine cannot be administered in only one dosage but it must be administered in three or five dosages,” stated the father.

Abid Candrinho explained that he went back to the director of CHAEM to question the number of times his son should get the vaccine, and he was told that the rabies vaccine given to the little boy was a single dose, and that there was no room for more because the vaccine given to the toddler was enough.

The father said that, unfortunately a month later, his son began to develop symptoms of rabies, namely nervousness, weakness and constant salivation. “My son started to get nervous easily and whenever somebody approached him, he had developed a tendency to beat them, he then started foaming from the mouth, not eating and showing all the symptoms related to rabies,” he said. He further explained that, the first person who raised the possibility that the toddler might have in fact contracted rabies was a veterinarian who went to see the child. This man told Abid Candrinho that the manifestations displayed by his son were from someone already contaminated by rabies.

“We, the parents, who were in constant contact with the boy, are in danger,” said the father.

After the child developed these symptoms, the parents took him to Quelimane Central Hospital where he was hospitalised for a week. Unfortunately after the seventh day in hospital, he was unable to continue fighting and died. The death certificate passed by the Central Hospital leaves no doubt that little Josué may have died of rabies.

The child’s father says that he will take the case to the court of justice because he believes there was negligence on the part of the person in charge of CHAEM.

Our report contacted the director of CHAEM in Quelimane but he was unavailable to make a statement, alleging that he was not authorised to do so by his superiors.

By Jorge Marcos

Source: O País