Villagers get themselves vaccinated for rabies after attending youth's funeral

Puttur: Nearly 600 people who had attended funeral rites of a 24-year-old youth of Puttur taluk have been gripped with the scare of contracting rabies.

The youth, Ashith Poojary from Ichlampady passed away on August 28 after being infected by rabies. As rabies is a communicable disease, the hospital authorities had taken due care to pack the body safely before handing it over to the body for the last rites. The hospital staff had also cautioned his family against opening the packed body, but family members of Ashith had done so to conduct rituals as per the traditions.

Several of the people who had attended the funeral ceremony were unaware that Ashith had died due to rabies, and the word spread only recently when few of the villagers came to know about it. As a precautionary measure several of those who attended the funeral have taken the anti-rabies vaccination

Government Hospital Medical officers have visited the house of Ashith after the scare spread.