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Mission Rabies Goa

Monthly Report – January 2018

Vaccination

During 2017, Mission Rabies achieved their goal and managed to vaccinate the entire state of Goa. This was a

huge achievement and everyone worked extremely hard. The map below (Figure 1) highlights the vaccination

coverage achieved in 2017 and as a new year begins, the teams have already started rotating around the state

again catching and vaccinating as many dogs as possible.

Goa State Total Vaccination Coverage – 2017 Review

Figure 1.Total vaccination coverage achieved in Goa during 2017

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Total number of dogs vaccinated in January 2018 = 10,220

The vaccination teams have made excellent progress during the first month of 2018 and all eight teams are

currently working together to complete Salcete Taluka in South Goa. The teams commenced vaccination in

Salcete at the end of October 2017 and the taluka is expected to be completed by mid-February. The map below

(Figure 2) shows the vaccination coverage achieved during January 2018. The red areas were completed in 2017

where as the green areas were completed in 2018. The areas marked in grey are pending vaccination.

Salcete Taluka Vaccination Coverage

Figure 2. Salcete Taluka – Vaccination coverage January 2018

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Rabies Cases

Total number of positive rabies cases in January 2018 = 10

Date of rabies case Taluk Ward/Area Male/Female Neutered or entire

Age Owned or

Stray

01.01.18 Bardez Candolim Male Entire 3 years Stray

02.01.18 Bardez Anjuna Male Entire 2 years Stray

04.01.18 Salcete Orlim Male Entire 2 years Owned

09.01.18 Bardez Arpora Male Entire 10 years Stray

10.01.18 Salcete Chinchinim Female Entire 6 years Stray

17.01.18 Canacona Canacona MCL Female Entire 2 years Stray (cow)

17.01.18 Bardez Candolim Female Entire 4 years Stray

21.01.18 Bardez Anjuna Female Neutered 6 years Stray

23.01.18 Bardez Candolim Male Neutered 4 years Stray

30.01.18 Salcete Cuncolim Female Entire 7 years Stray

One particular case responded to by the RRT highlights the importance of the twenty-four hour rabies hotline

number in addition to, education and community engagement. Dr Sanjay managed the case which involved a

one year old male dog that was not vaccinated by the team last year. The dog was not tied when the teams

January 2018, has been a busy month for the

MR/WVS Rabies Response Team (RRT) with

the first rabid dog of the year safely caught

and removed from Candolim in North Goa

on New Year’s Day. The team attended to a

total of seventeen suspected rabies cases

this month. Ten were confirmed positive for

rabies, six were negative upon post-mortem

and one was released following a period of

observation. The table below gives details

of each positive rabies case including a cow

which had died on Palolem beach (Figure 3),

a major tourist resort in South Goa. The cow

was restrained by locals after developing

abnormal behavior but died prior to the

team’s arrival. Figure 3. Dead cow on Palolem beach confirmed positive for rabies

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came for vaccination and ran away. The other dog in the household was tied and received its vaccination from

the Mission Rabies team. Several weeks later an unknown dog entered their compound and fought with their

unvaccinated dog. The stray dog subsequently disappeared and the owners did not worry too much as dog

fights are a common occurrence in India. However, after sometime their dog started acting strangely, biting

objects and even tried to the bite the owner and tore his clothes when he went to feed the dog. The family had

no idea what to do so kept the dog tied outside their house for three days. They consulted a local veterinarian

who only advised them to kill the dog but this was not something they could do themselves.

The family’s eight year old son (Figure 4) suddenly remembered that Mission Rabies had previously visited his

school and he had noted down the rabies hotline number which was displayed on a poster in his classroom. His

parents called the number and the RRT immediately responded to the case. The dog was taken away by the

team and humanely euthanised. A post-mortem was conducted (Figure 5) and the dog was confirmed positive

for rabies (Figure 6).

Figure 4. 8 year old son kept record of Mission Rabies

hotline number

Figure 5. Dog was humanely euthanised for post-mortem

Figure 6. Lateral flow test displaying positive result for

rabies

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Team Structure

On the 1st January 2018, two new WVS vets joined the Mission Rabies teams for their five week rotation. Dr

Vineeta (Figure 7) and Dr Shashank (Figure 8) came from the WVS ITC in Ooty and will be joning WVS Hicks in

Goa next month. Both have taken to their team leader roles with great enthusiasim and shown good

commitment to the vaccination work.

Figure 7. Dr Vineeta and her vaccination team Figure 8. Dr Shashank and his vaccination team

Meetings

Dr Murugan – Mission Rabies Director of India Education, his education team and Raju – Mission Rabies Survey

Manager/Assistant to Management (Figures 9 and 10) have had a busy start to the new year travelling across

Goa, organising and attending municipality meetings to increase awareness and support for Mission rabies. The

meetings have been a huge success and further meetings at panchayat level and within local communities are

being planned for 2018.

Figure 9. Dr Murugan, Raju, and Rakesh (MR

Education Officer) meeting the Chief Officer in

Quepem Municipality

Figure 10. Dr Murugan presenting on the work of Mission rabies to

officials in Ponda Municipality

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Other News

The teams vaccinate all areas and in January 2018 the teams were granted permission to enter a large military

base and several industrial areas in Salcete (Figure 11). They have also been busy with rescues (injured dogs the

teams catch whilst out vaccinating) and working alongside local NGO’s (Figures 12 and 13).

Figure 11. Vaccination team adhering to health and safety regulations in industrial area

Figure 12. A young dog being released back

to its original location following treatment

at a local NGO

Figure 13. Team assisting local NGO to catch an injured dog on the beach where

they were vaccinating

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Happy New Year! The vaccination teams took a well-deserved holiday on 1st January 2018. Time was spent on the beach

celebrating the New Year as well as a few birthdays and the achievements of 2017 (Figures 14 and 15).

Figure 14. Celebrating with cake and welcoming in the New Year

Figure 15. Team fun on the beach on New Year’s Day

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Catch of the month!

The teams really have been on top form during January 2018. The newest recruits have been demonstrating

their catching skills with many of them catching two or even three dogs at the same time. All of the dog

catchers/animal handlers shown in the photos below have been with Mission Rabies for just three to six months.

Even Anmesh – Mission Rabies Project Assistant (bottom right) has been going to great lengths to vaccinate as

many dogs as possible!

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Trying some hand-catching too!

Mission Rabies Goa Project Summary

Year

Vaccination Total

2013 5,767 2014 24,306

2015 56,681

2016 51,294 2017 96,033

2018 to date 10,220 Grand Total 244,301