Alarming rise in monkey bite

The issue is one of Nepal’s leading but overlooked public health concerns.

A nine-year-old boy from Mahottari-9 recently visited the Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH) in Teku, seeking treatment and vaccination against rabies virus due to the unavailability and shortage of vaccine in the area. He was bitten by a monkey. Another victim’s father told me that nearly 4,000 people had been victims of the same monkey over the past two to three months. Interestingly, this monkey used to drink alcohol with residents at the shops and bite children when it became aggressive or wild.