14 Pupils Bitten By Classmate, Vaccinated Against Rabies

14 Form one pupils at Tshazi Secondary School in Insiza who were bitten by their 14 year old, classmate were vaccinated against rabies while their attacker has been referred for mental evaluation.

Insiza District Medical Officer, Dr Mandlenkosi Nkala said the pupils were vaccinated as tests were inconclusive as the 14 year-old boy, who was also vaccinated against rabies could be in an incubation period. Said Dr Nkala:

If there is a dog bite we don’t resort to testing. What we do is if there is human bite in a bizarre incident like that one we resort to giving the vaccine because if we were to do the tests, what if the one who was biting was in the incubation period? It won’t give us any results. We managed to get the vaccines for them and we had to give them the following day. They were all vaccinated against rabies

He said the rabies vaccination will be administered in three phases. School authorities on Monday took the pupils to Filabusi District Hospital for medical tests after being bitten by the pupil on Thursday last week. Sources at the school said veterinary officials visited the school as they feared the pupil could be rabid.

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