Bulandshahr News : राधा कृष्ण मंदिर के पुजारी ओम शर्मा की रेबीज से मौत; कुत्ते के काटने के बाद एआरवी न लगवाने की लापरवाही भारी पड़ी

What happened to Om Sharma?

Om Sharma, a 24‑year‑old priest at the Shri Radha Krishna temple in Chhatari, Bulandshahr, has died from rabies following a stray‑dog bite. Two months ago, a wandering dog attacked him near the temple and bit his leg. Instead of immediately getting an anti‑rabies vaccine (ARV) and tetanus shot, Om and his family neglected the treatment, reportedly treating the bite as a minor injury.

By mid‑March, Om began to feel unwell. On 16 March, he experienced mild symptoms and visited a local doctor, but the seriousness was not recognized at that stage. Over the next few days, his condition worsened: he refused water, vomited whenever forced to drink, and showed other classic signs of rabies such as agitation and fear of water (hydrophobia).

From Chhatari to Delhi: a desperate race for treatment

Alarmed by his deteriorating health, Om’s family took him to several nursing homes and clinics in Bulandshahr on Friday. Doctors there identified rabies‑like symptoms but advised higher‑level care. The next day, he was taken to the district hospital emergency, where the emergency medical officer also confirmed rabies signs and immediately referred him to Delhi.

The family rushed him to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, followed by Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Lok Nayak Hospital. Finally, he was admitted to the Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital in Delhi, where rabies was formally confirmed and his condition declared critical. By then, the infection had advanced too far, and doctors said treatment options were extremely limited.

Still clutching at hope, Om’s relatives learned about a local “healer” in the Dhanpur area who reportedly removed rabies‑affected patients through “jhaad‑foonk” (ritualistic healing). On Sunday evening, the family decided to take him back from Delhi towards Dhanpur, but Om died on the way, never reaching the healer’s place.

Age, background, and family’s grief

Om Sharma was the son of Dinesh Chandra Sharma, a resident of DM Road, Aawas Vikas in Bulandshahr. He had been serving as a priest at the newly built Radha‑Krishna temple in Chhatari for about one and a half years, a position he had proudly taken up after the temple was inaugurated. The family says he was a gentle, religious young man dedicated to his duties at the temple.

His father, Dinesh, recounted that Om was acting strangely in his final days—refusing food, vomiting water, and showing extreme discomfort. He described seeing Om’s pulse drop to around 56 beats per minute on Sunday, signaling that his body was shutting down. After Om’s death, relatives and devotees broke down at home, with his mother and siblings reportedly in deep shock.

Public health lesson: how to react after a dog bite

Local doctors and public‑health officials stress that Om’s case is a textbook warning about the dangers of ignoring even a small dog bite. They list the following steps to be taken immediately after a bite:

• Wash the wound with soap and running water for at least 10–15 minutes.

• Seek medical help as soon as possible and get an anti‑rabies vaccine (ARV) and tetanus injection, even for small or superficial bites.

• Avoid “home remedies” like turmeric, chili paste, or faith‑based “jhaad‑foonk,” which only delay real medical treatment.

Once clinical symptoms of rabies appear—such as fear of water, difficulty swallowing, restlessness, and confusion—the disease is almost always fatal. Vaccination before symptoms develop is the only effective prevention.

Rabies risk and stray‑dog menace in Bulandshahr

Bulandshahr has seen multiple rabies‑related deaths in the past year, including a kabaddi player and an electrician who both died after stray‑dog bites without getting proper ARV. These cases have raised concerns about the large population of stray dogs and delayed healthcare access in rural and semi‑urban areas.

Health authorities in the district now face renewed pressure to scale up anti‑rabies awareness drives, especially in villages like Chhatari and areas around temples and marketplaces where stray dogs roam freely. Officials also call for better animal‑control measures and more consistent vaccination and sterilization of street dogs to reduce the risk of human rabies deaths.

Conclusion: A preventable death with a powerful message

Om Sharma’s death from rabies could have been avoided with timely medical care after the dog bite. Instead, hesitation, incomplete treatment, and a turn to ritual healing turned a routine preventable injury into a fatal tragedy.

This case underlines the urgent need for:

• stronger public‑awareness campaigns about rabies vaccination,

• faster access to government‑health facilities, and

• stricter control of stray‑dog populations in UP districts like Bulandshahr.

As devotees mourn the loss of a young priest at the Radha Krishna temple, Om’s story stands as a painful but vital reminder: after any dog or animal bite, medical help must come first—no exceptions.

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