In 2018, 44 year old Everlyne was raising five children and ran a small restaurant in Minakulu Trading Center, near Gulu in Northern Uganda. The people who knew Everlyne describe her as a warm, loving, and hard-working woman.
On Sunday, June 10th, around 6:30 a.m., Everlyne opened the doors to her restaurant and was suddenly attacked by a rabid dog. During the struggle for her life, Everlyne's arm was broken and she was badly bitten. The dog ran awawy and subsequently bit two children playing in the yard of the nearby school.
Everlyne was taken on the back of a motorbike (the only transportation in the area) to the hospital. They reached the hospital an hour later but found it was closed, so they went to a clinic where Everlyne's wounds were treated. Everlyne's family requested treatment for the dog bite and she was given one post-exposure anti-rabies injection. Unfortunately, this was not the correct protocol for post-exposure rabies treatment.
The most common way to get rabies is by being bitten by an animal carrying the disease. If you get bitten by an animal that may have rabies, or whose vaccination history is unknown, it is very important to begi post-exposure anti-rabies injections (PEP) immediately.The World Health Orgainization (WHO) protocol is now that you receive 5 PEP injections: on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28.
It may take weeks or months for symptos of rabies to appear but once symptoms appear, the virus has reached the victim's brain and there is no treatment that can prevent death. The initial symptoms of rabies are often nonspecific such as fever and headache. As the disease progresses and causes inflammation of the brain and meninges, symptoms can include slight or partial paraysis, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, and excessive salivation. The patient may also try to bite those around them. The symptoms progress to delirium, coma, and death.
Since Everlyne only received one PEP injection, she did not have adequate protection against the rabies virus. The family also suspects she may have been given an expired or counterfeit vaccine.
Everlyne's arm eventually healed, but one moring in September, Everlyne woke up and knew something was terribly wrong. Her family took her to the government hospital and they confirmed the most dreased diagnosis possible: rabies virus had entered Everlyne's brain and there was nothing that could be done. She would die.
In the hospital's isolation ward, at times it took six strong men to hold Everlyne's small body down as rabies ravaged her body. She spit and tried to bite people (a common characteristic of rabies) and some family members were bitten and required PEP. Her family members had to watch as Everlyne came in and out of awareness and then die one of th emost horrible deaths imaginable. Their feelings of helplessness must have been overwhelming as there was absolutely nothing they could do to help her.
On September 10th, Everlyne passed away.
Even though a vaccine for rabies has existed for more than a hundred years, each year alsmost 60,000 people die of rabies. Some causes for this are lack of education, lack of a comprehensive rabies strategy, and the cost of vaccines.
It is well established that rabies is 100% preventable through vaccination of dogs and cats. By vaccinating 70% of the domestic dogs in a region, "herd immunity" can be created and the spread of rabies can be stopped.
In Uganda, The BIG FIX vaccinates animals for free of World Rabies Day, September 28th. It costs about 86 cents to buy a dose of rabies vaccine for one dog.
Many thanks to the family of Apiyo Everlyne for allowing us to tell her story, and to Jörgen Nilsson, BIG FIX's Rabies Campaign Coordinator, for all his work in bringing awareness to these issues.
On Sunday, June 10th, around 6:30 a.m., Everlyne opened the doors to her restaurant and was suddenly attacked by a rabid dog. During the struggle for her life, Everlyne's arm was broken and she was badly bitten. The dog ran awawy and subsequently bit two children playing in the yard of the nearby school.
Everlyne was taken on the back of a motorbike (the only transportation in the area) to the hospital. They reached the hospital an hour later but found it was closed, so they went to a clinic where Everlyne's wounds were treated. Everlyne's family requested treatment for the dog bite and she was given one post-exposure anti-rabies injection. Unfortunately, this was not the correct protocol for post-exposure rabies treatment.
The most common way to get rabies is by being bitten by an animal carrying the disease. If you get bitten by an animal that may have rabies, or whose vaccination history is unknown, it is very important to begi post-exposure anti-rabies injections (PEP) immediately.The World Health Orgainization (WHO) protocol is now that you receive 5 PEP injections: on days 0, 3, 7, 14, and 28.
It may take weeks or months for symptos of rabies to appear but once symptoms appear, the virus has reached the victim's brain and there is no treatment that can prevent death. The initial symptoms of rabies are often nonspecific such as fever and headache. As the disease progresses and causes inflammation of the brain and meninges, symptoms can include slight or partial paraysis, anxiety, insomnia, confusion, agitation, abnormal behavior, paranoia, terror, hallucinations, and excessive salivation. The patient may also try to bite those around them. The symptoms progress to delirium, coma, and death.
Since Everlyne only received one PEP injection, she did not have adequate protection against the rabies virus. The family also suspects she may have been given an expired or counterfeit vaccine.
Everlyne's arm eventually healed, but one moring in September, Everlyne woke up and knew something was terribly wrong. Her family took her to the government hospital and they confirmed the most dreased diagnosis possible: rabies virus had entered Everlyne's brain and there was nothing that could be done. She would die.
In the hospital's isolation ward, at times it took six strong men to hold Everlyne's small body down as rabies ravaged her body. She spit and tried to bite people (a common characteristic of rabies) and some family members were bitten and required PEP. Her family members had to watch as Everlyne came in and out of awareness and then die one of th emost horrible deaths imaginable. Their feelings of helplessness must have been overwhelming as there was absolutely nothing they could do to help her.
On September 10th, Everlyne passed away.
Even though a vaccine for rabies has existed for more than a hundred years, each year alsmost 60,000 people die of rabies. Some causes for this are lack of education, lack of a comprehensive rabies strategy, and the cost of vaccines.
It is well established that rabies is 100% preventable through vaccination of dogs and cats. By vaccinating 70% of the domestic dogs in a region, "herd immunity" can be created and the spread of rabies can be stopped.
In Uganda, The BIG FIX vaccinates animals for free of World Rabies Day, September 28th. It costs about 86 cents to buy a dose of rabies vaccine for one dog.
Many thanks to the family of Apiyo Everlyne for allowing us to tell her story, and to Jörgen Nilsson, BIG FIX's Rabies Campaign Coordinator, for all his work in bringing awareness to these issues.