Epidemiology of Animal Bite Cases of Children Attending Tertiary Care Center of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bengaluru: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background Rabies or hydrophobia is an acute highly fatal viral illness of the central nervous system caused by Lyssavirus type 1. About 30ndash60 of rabies cases and deaths in India occur in children under the age of 15 years. Bites that occur in children go unrecognized and unreported. In up to 99 of the cases inland dogs are accountable for rabies virus transmission to humans.Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological pattern of animal bite cases of children up to 15 years of age attending the anti-rabies clinic. Methods A record-based retrospective study was undertaken in February 2022 from registers maintained in the anti-rabies clinic ARC of a tertiary care hospital.Results In this study out of 656 bite victims upto 70.3 were male children and about 29.70 were female children. 65.50 of the children were between 6ndash12 years of age. 98.5 of the cases were bitten by the dog. Based on area-wise distribution most of the victims came from urban Bangalore 69.5 among them 34.8 were referred for rabies immunoglobulin where the vaccination status was unknown. 95.70 of cases belong to category-3. Only 29.4 of the cases completed the anti-rabies vaccine schedule. The study also showed that the majority of bites are reported during April and May.Conclusion In our study we found that the majority of the bite victims are school-going children and most incidents were during summer vacations. Hence more awareness to be given to the public and in schools for the primary prevention of animal bites.