Abstract
Background and Objectives Effective prevention of rabies is possible by vaccination following a rabid animal bite. Objectives of this study was to describe demographics, circumstances of bite and the trend of vaccination over last three years (January 2019-November 2021) in an anti-rabies clinic of a tertiary care hospital.
 Materials and Methods This was an observational study of prospective design. All animal bite victims who attended the anti rabies clinic (ARC) of the study institution during the study period were invited to participate in the study. Data was collected using a structured schedule on first visit and at 28th day to check for on time compliance to vaccination schedule. On time completion was defined as taking all vaccine doses on due dates. Distribution of variables was shown by frequencies and percentages. Indicators were recorded for three consecutive years. Year wise indicators were compared by chi-square test.
 Results Data was collected for 293 victims. Median age of bite victims was 41.8 years (range 3-78 years) while 58.7 % respondents were below 45 years of age; 71.3 % victims were male. 82.3 % bites were by dogs; 38 % victims had multiple bites. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) was initiated within 72 hours for 80 % victims and it was completed on time for 66.2 % victims. Three years trend for PEP indicators did not show a statistically significant difference.
 Conclusion On time PEP schedule completion was fairly high at the studied ARC. Health seeking for PEP following animal bite was not affected by the corona virus pandemic
Highlights
Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that causes progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord
For Category III bites if a victim presents within 72 hours of bite, half of the calculated dose of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) is infiltrated around the wound and rest of the amount is given as IM injection
This study reports the high proportion of timely initiation of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) among animal bite victims
Summary
Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that causes progressive and fatal inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Rabies still continues to kill 59,000 humans every year. Of these cases, approximately 99 % are acquired from the bite of an infected dog. In many countries human rabies cases do not occur They still may report imported cases due to increasing dog ownership and incur costs for maintaining disease freedom or surveillance of endemic rabies transmission in wildlife [1, 2]. Effective prevention of rabies is possible by vaccination following a rabid animal bite. Objectives of this study was to describe demographics, circumstances of bite and the trend of vaccination over last three years (January 2019–November 2021) in an anti-rabies clinic of a tertiary care hospital.
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