A cross-sectional study on knowledge of epidemiological determinants, prevention and management of rabies among MBBS interns of a tertiary health care center of central India

Abstract

Background: According to World Health Organization (WHO), rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic, viral disease caused by Lyssavirus type 1. It causes 20,000 deaths annually in India. MBBS interns represent the physicians who will graduate and practice medicine from next year. Hence, keeping this in mind, the present study was carried out to assess the knowledge regarding epidemiological determinants, prevention and management of rabies among MBBS interns. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between April 2023 to June 2023 among 200 MBBS interns of Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, Nagpur, Maharashtra. Data was collected by the self-administered, pre-designed, pre-structured questionnaire and was analysed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software version 25. Results: It was seen that the mean age of participants was 23.34 (±0.859) years. The majority of participants were males (51.5%). The majority (80%) of interns knew the correct causative agent of rabies, while only 40% knew the correct incubation period of rabies. The majority, that is 63.5%, 85.5% and 75% of interns, knew the correct route, site and schedule of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) respectively. Only 26.5% interns knew the correct management of category I animal bites, while 74.5% and 89% knew the correct management of category II and category III animal bites, respectively. The mean total knowledge score among interns was 13.17±2.63. Conclusions: The study found that interns with experience in dealing with animal bite cases had significantly higher total knowledge scores. To improve knowledge, interactive animal bite case-dealing sessions and regular CMEs should be conducted.