The Epidemiology and Disease Control Division (EDCD) is all set to introduce use of Intra-dermal Rabies Vaccine (IDRV), in place of intra-muscular, which will significantly bring down the cost of treatment.[break]
"We are going to introduce IDRV for effective treatment of a large number of bite victims at an affordable cost," Soraj Prasad Rajendra, the director of EDCD, said.
EDCD says more than 10,000 people receive free rabies vaccines in Kathmandu Valley every year and the government imports more than 200,000 vials of the vaccine for distribution at hospitals across the country spending around Rs 100 million. The government currently provides rabies vaccine free of cost for those who are in contact with dogs or cows that die of rabies (pre-exposure) and those who have been bitten by the animals.
IDRV is a modern method of administering vaccine which is deposited between the layers of skin. It is given in the back of the body and is injected at four or eight places at one time.
In intra-muscular method, a person receives five doses of vaccine with one dose given at a time. The doses are administered on days 0, 3, 7, 14 and 28 of the bite with the injections given in the upper arm or in thigh in case of children. The day 0 is the day of administration of the first dose of the vaccine and not the day of bite.
Deputy Coordinator of National Zoonosis Program Lat Narayan Sah said the vaccine is same, only the vaccination method and injecting place is different. A person requires five ml with one ml injected on five separate days in intra-muscular method but in intra-dermal the same one ml vial is sufficient for a single dose for up to eight persons. EDCD hopes to use a single one ml-vial for at least five persons thereby bringing down the consumption of vaccine by at least 80 percent.
"We can save more than 40,000 vials of vaccine from Kathmandu Valley alone," Sah claimed. "If the number of persons bitten by animals rise in other districts, we can expand the program to those districts as well," he added.
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