Epidemiology and factors affecting delay in post exposure prophylaxis of animal bite cases attending an anti rabies clinic.

Dr.Khalid Bashir; Dr.Mahbooba Rasool; Dr.S.M.SALIM KHAN; Dr.Zeenat Kausar; Dr.Abdul Rouf

Volume : VII, Issue : III, March - 2018

Epidemiology and factors affecting delay in post exposure prophylaxis of animal bite cases attending an anti rabies clinic.

Dr. Khalid Bashir, Dr. Mahbooba Rasool, Dr. S. M. Salim Khan, Dr. Zeenat Kausar, Dr. Abdul Rouf

Abstract :

Background: Rabies being an endemic disease in India in general and Kashmir in particular.Animal bite cases are rising enormously .Post exposure prophylaxis consequently increases as the bite cases increase, leading to a heavy financial burden to the state exchequer as well as individuals. No sufficient knowledge regarding factors associated with delay in post exposure prophylaxis of the bitten individuals is available at present.

Aim and Objectives: To study the epidemiology of animal bite cases presenting in anti–rabies clinic and find out factors associated with delay in post exposure prophylaxis.

Material and Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted in an anti rabies clinic of a tertiary care hospital. The animal bite cases attending the clinic were interviewed and data was collected by using a semi–structured proforma. The questions pertained to demographic characteristics of animal bite cases, biter�s profile,t ime and date of bite, class of bite, factors affecting delayed post exposure vaccination .Results: A total of 232 cases were observed. Most of the bite cases were males (74.6%).The mean age of victims was 33.8 years (+18.89) ranging between .Dogs were most frequent biters (96.55%).Most common bitten part was legs(59.1%) and left side of body more (51.7%) involved.52.6% were class II bites followed by 47.4% in class III category.66.8% had timely (0–6hours) post exposure prophylaxis followed by 25.4% delayed(6–48 hours) and 7.8% got prophylaxis > 48 hours post exposure. The factors related to delayed prophylaxis were distance from the clinic, class of bite,residence. Conclusion: Factors affecting the delay in seeking care is at large. Ways to reduce the delay should be sought for as rabies is a 100 % fatal disease. A well placed robust health system giving due care to bitten cases is the need of the hour.