To the Editor: A 7-y-old boy presented with redness ofright eye following injury to his eye 3 d earlier. However,the exact nature of injury was not clear. An ophthalmolog-ical evaluation revealed right corneal tear and conjunctivi-tis. He was administered appropriate systemic antibioticsand the corneal laceration was sutured. Four days after theprocedure, he was referred to the pediatrician for abnormalbehavior and movements. On examination, he was con-fused and agitated. He had excessive salivation and clas-sical hydrophobia and aerophobia pointing towards adiagnosis of Rabies. On probing the history further, wecame to know that the boy had sustained the corneal tearwhile trying to escape from an attacking stray dog. Hisneurological status progressively deteriorated and he ex-pired 48 h later.There is no cure for rabies once symptoms begin and thedisease is almost always fatal. However, there are threereported survivors of human rabies till date [1]. In this caseof furious rabies, the history regarding attack by the straydog was missed and an opportunity to administer rabiesimmunoglobulin and vaccine was lost. The post exposureprophylaxis can only prevent the disease if given beforesymptoms start. Therefore, immediate prophylaxis in suspi-cious cases is essential [2]. On the other hand, even postexposure prophylaxis in rare cases cannot prevent the dis-ease [3]. Probably, the mucosal injury to the eye could havehastened the transmission of virus during the attack by thedog. The proximity of the laceration to the cranial nervesand the suturing of the corneal tear could have also contrib-uted to the rapid disease progression. There are few reportshighlighting the risk of rabies in animal bites in and aroundorbits [4, 5]. Even though a dog bite victim may present tovariousspecialists depending onthe injury,acomprehensivemanagement plan including rabies vaccine and or immuno-globulin should be followed. This tale of corneal tear whichunfortunately ended in tears highlights the potential dangerof animal attacks on humans and the importance of imme-diate prophylaxis in suspicious cases. In clinical medicine,there is no substitute for a meticulously taken history!References