A 12-year-old student from Klungkung, Bali died in the regency’s public hospital on Sunday, allegedly from rabies.
The boy, I Gusti Ngurah Ari Krisna had just finished elementary school, and was reportedly bitten by a stray dog about a month ago when buying ice at a warung near his home, according to Denpost.
Krisna was reportedly admitted to the hospital on June 27, and soon died the next day at 11:20 am.
Upon arriving at the ER, the boy was experiencing symptoms that indicated rabies, among them an aversion to water, and he was complaining of the heat and feeling nauseous, Klungkung Public Hospital Dr. Ayu Wedayanti told Denpost.
Wedayanti also acknowledged that Krisna had been bitten by a dog some time before he was admitted to the hospital, evidenced by bite marks on the victim’s left thigh—though the wound was apparently already healed.
Because Krisna did not complain of feeling ill when originally bitten by the dog and purportedly did not even tell his family when it happened, he was not taken to the hospital for immediate treatment when the dog bite first happened, states Denpost’s report.
According to Dr. Ayu, when he was admitted to the ER, it appeared the virus had already spread to Krisna’s brain, meaning that the hospital could not do anything except treat his symptoms.
Bali’s rabies problem has been out of hand this year, with reports of fatalities from the virus, as well as limited supplies of the vaccine earlier this year. From January to June 2015, Denpost has recorded a total of ten deaths in Bali caused by rabies.
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