September 27, 2025

Meet Sai Kiran, a 17-year-old student from Rajanna Sircilla district, Telangana, who has beaten one of the deadliest foes: rabies! Back in 2018, Sai was bitten by a dog near his home after school. Although he got vaccinated two days later, he couldn’t finish the full treatment because the government hospital ran out of anti-rabies vaccine. Soon, terrifying rabies symptoms hit him: fear of light and air, and trouble walking. Sai’s family faced an agonizing journey. He slipped into a coma, needed a ventilator, and was unresponsive for about three months. His parents, who work as a driver and vegetable vendor, spent a whopping Rs 12 lakh on his care, even selling property to pay for medicines and physiotherapy. Slowly, Sai showed signs of life—recognizing people, walking with support, and eventually walking to school by himself. "Sai is off medications now. He walks to school on his own," says his proud father Raja Reddy. Doctors are amazed! Dr Reeta Mani from Nimhans calls Sai “unique” because rabies survival is nearly unheard of—only about 30 survivors worldwide, 17 from India. Most survivors remain severely disabled or vegetative, but Sai made a big recovery despite having a severe grade 3 hand bite, which usually fast-tracks the virus to the brain. Dr Lokesh Lingappa of Rainbow Children’s Hospital, who treated Sai at first, adds, “None of the rabies survivors I’ve seen have returned to school. Sai’s progress is unexpected and wonderful.” What saved Sai? The mystery remains. He received vaccines and immunoglobulin shortly after the bite, which might have helped. Experts note many survivors are young, healthy, and vaccinated—but their vaccination was incomplete, and their bodies fought off the virus fiercely. India has the most rabies survivors globally, possibly because it also faces the highest number of rabies cases. Post-bite vaccination is free in many public hospitals, but experts urge parents to consider pre-exposure vaccines too, especially for children. "Please don’t wait for a dog bite to act!" warns Dr Mani. Rabies is preventable, yet it causes trauma and financial disaster for many families. Sai’s story shines hope and highlights the urgent need for better vaccines, awareness, and science. Dr Mani stresses the goal to wipe out dog-mediated human rabies deaths through vaccines, dog control, and spreading awareness. A famous experimental treatment, the Milwaukee Protocol, puts patients into a coma to help the immune system fight rabies. Originated by Dr Rodney Willoughby in 2004, it remains controversial but has saved a few patients. New hopes like gene therapy and monoclonal antibodies could change rabies survival further, especially in India. Sai Kiran’s incredible comeback is a ray of sunshine in the grim world of rabies. His story teaches us about the power of hope, medicine, and fighting spirit amid one of medicine’s darkest battles.

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Tags: Rabies survival, Sai kiran, Dog bite, Rabies vaccine, Milwaukee protocol, India rabies cases,