The dog bite victims included 10 schoolchildren and some elderly people. (File)
A stray dog that was beaten to death after biting 29 people in Chennai has test positive for rabies, officials said. The dog attacked pedestrians in the Royapuram area and bit their feet and ankles. It bit 29 people within an hour before the locals pelted the dog with stones and then thrashed it to death.
Civic officials sent its body for postmortem to the Madras Veterinary College where its samples were found to be positive.
The dog bite victims included 10 schoolchildren and some elderly people who fell and hurt their heads in the impact. At least 24 of them suffered deep cuts due to the dog bite, reported The Times of India.
The victims were admitted overnight to a government hospital and were given anti-rabies vaccine shots. They will have to return for four more shots, said a doctor at the hospital.
Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner J Radhakrishnan said the civic officials caught 52 dogs from the area after the incident and are monitoring them.
"We are going for a full-fledged dog census from November 27 from Monday onwards. We are vaccinating all dogs. We do 15,000-17,000 sterilisations every year. In Royapuram, all 29 people have been given immunoglobulins. and we're doing ring vaccination surrounding that street," he said.
Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian today sought to allay the fears of the residents and promised a checkup of the dogs across Chennai by doctors.
"We have planned to conduct a census to count the number of dogs in Chennai. There is no need to fear, doctors will advise on their health," the minister said after the news of the dog being rabid broke out.
Dogs are mostly responsible for rabies transmission to humans and the disease can be fatal if not treated despite having symptoms.