Dog bites and human rabies: epidemiological analysis of post exposure prophylaxis in Bhutan

Authors

  • Tenzin Tenzin National Centre for Animal Health, Department of Livestock, MoAF, Serbithang, Thimphu, Bhutan
  • Sonam Wangchuk Royal Centre for Disease Control, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Serbithang, Thimphu, Bhutan
  • Tshering Dorji Royal Centre for Disease Control, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Serbithang, Thimphu, Bhutan
  • JOANNA S MCKENZIE Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand
  • PETER D JOLLY Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand

Keywords:

Dog bites, Epidemiology, Post-exposure prophylaxis, Public health, Rabies

Abstract

The study objective was to describe the epidemiology of dog bites and the use of anti-rabies vaccine as Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) in Bhutan over a period of four years (2009–2012). Dog-bite and PEP[1]treatment data of 18,813 patients were retrieved from 34 health centres and subjected to descriptive analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for in[1]complete course of PEP. Dog-bite incidents in humans were found to be higher in males than females (p≤0.001) and more common in children than adults (p≤0.001). Males (n=10,924; 59.19%) received more PEP courses than females (n=7,849; 41.81%) across all age groups (p≤0.001). The median age of both dog-bite and PEP-treatment recipients was 20 years (range

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Published

2017-03-31

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2017): Bhutan Journal of Animal Science

Section

Article

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Copyright (c) 2017 Bhutan Journal of Animal Science

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.