Prevalence Of Dog Bites In A Rural Community: A 15 Year Review Of Cases In Okoyong, Cross River State, Nigeria

M Asuquo,W Ndifon,J Mwankon,G Ugare

doi:10.4314/gjcm.v2i1-2.47932

Abstract

This retrospective study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of dog bites in Comprehensive Health Centre, Okoyong south-south Nigeria. Eleven cases of dog bite were recorded out of a total of 25,000 patients seen during a fifteen- year period (1990-2004). This gives a prevalence of 44 per 100,000 population. The age of the patients ranged from 16 to 43 years, with a mean of 27.1+ 8.3. Male to female ratio was 1:0.8. The treatment of patients consisted of analgesics, antibiotics, tetanus toxoid and antitetanus serum. We did not have any recorded case of rabies, in spite of the fact that none of the patients had rabies vaccination nor antirabies immunoglobulin. All the patients reported late to hospital, the mean duration before presentation being 10.23 days. The follow up was extremely poor as most patients never reported for follow up after the initial treatment as outpatient or discharge following admission. We conclude that the prevalence of dog bites in this health centre is low (0.04%).We recommend more comprehensive community-based studies to adequately assess the burden of this problem. Current regulations on the management of dog bites should be strictly followed by the attending medical personnel. KEY WORDS: Okoyong, Dog bites, Prevalence.

Highlights

Man and dog have co-existed for thousands of years in a mutually beneficial manner, but occasionally problems arise
In spite of the fact that dog bites are common in Nigeria (Ogun, 2001), most dogs are unvaccinated against rabies, and the supply of rabies vaccine per 1000 population is put at 10% or less (Fagbumi, et al, 1981)
Dog bites remain a common source of rabies both in the developed and developing countries of the world (Ogun, 2001; Georges and Adesiyun, 2008; Ghandi, et al, 1999) This is expected to be more common in a rural community because of the likelihood of a large proportion of unvaccinated dogs, ignorance of dangers of dog bites and inadequate health infrastructure to manage cases of dog bites

Summary

Introduction

Man and dog have co-existed for thousands of years in a mutually beneficial manner, but occasionally problems arise. In spite of the fact that dog bites are common in Nigeria (Ogun, 2001), most dogs are unvaccinated against rabies, and the supply of rabies vaccine per 1000 population is put at 10% or less (Fagbumi, et al, 1981).

Results

Conclusion