A FATHER in Jiangsu Province died from rabies this week after refusing to take a vaccine because of cost concerns about a month after he sucked blood from a dog bite wound on his son’s leg in an attempt at emergency treatment, Yangzi Evening News reported yesterday.

    The victim’s son was taken to a hospital and received rabies vaccine shots after his father, a 41-year-old man surnamed Jiang, tried to remove any infection his son may have been exposed to by sucking blood from the bite. The boy was bitten by a stray dog.

    The father, a villager in Sitong County, was worried about costs so he didn’t get the same shots. Fellow villagers said he also thought it unlikely that people could be infected by the rabies virus orally and thought taking shots would be too troublesome.

    Rabies shots can cost several hundred yuan per treatment.

    Jiang’s son, about 20 years old, was bitten by a small stray dog Aug. 29 while he was sweeping the grounds in front of their house. Jiang was so anxious about his son’s injury that he squatted down immediately and started to suck the blood from his son’s left leg and spit it onto the ground, which some people do to try to treat bites from venomous snakes.

    Jiang developed strong rabies symptoms Monday and died hours after he was rushed to a hospital.

    Doctors reminded people not to suck out blood after being bitten by dogs, but to clean wounds with soapy water and get medical help quickly.

    (SD-Agencies)