Rabies confirmed after mass dog bite incident in Assam town

GUWAHATI

Canine experts have detected rabies following a mass dog bite incident in Lanka town in central Assam.

About 40 people in the town were bitten by dogs in quick succession on March 26. An animal care centre at Sonapur, about 30 km east of Guwahati, sent a team after receiving the information on the night of March 27.

“We sent our Mission Rabies team, led by an integrated bite case management officer and supported by five animal handlers, to Lanka on March 28. Our team coordinated with Momi Gogoi, the veterinary officer at Lanka, who was already leading the local investigation,” Just Be Friendly founder and managing trustee Sashanka Sekhar Dutta told *The Hindu* on Wednesday (April 1, 2026).

Lanka is about 190 km east of Guwahati.

The joint team visited multiple affected locations in the town. It found two bodies of suspected rabid dogs, one a decomposed stray and the other buried by its owner.

Samples collected from the exhumed body of the domesticated dog were temporarily stored at the JBF Integrated Care and Resource Centre for Community and Animal Welfare for laboratory testing. Tests at the centre confirmed rabies infection. Subsequent tests at the Animal Rabies Diagnosis Laboratory and the College of Veterinary Science, Guwahati yielded a similar result.

Six bite cases were also closely examined during the investigation. Three cases were found to have been associated with Rabies.

“This is not an isolated incident and reflects a larger ongoing public health concern, calling for sustained action through on ground awareness activities about rabies risks, prevention, and the importance of timely treatment,” Mr. Dutta said.

He further said that JBF, in collaboration with Mission Rabies, has been working across Assam through awareness drives and anti rabies vaccination campaigns to achieve the goal of making the State rabies free by 2030.