Open AccessEpidemiological and demographic study of acute animal biting in Abdanan County, Ilam Province, Western Iran
Author(s) -
Hamid Kassiri,
Mojgan Lotfi,
Atefe Ebrahimi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of acute disease
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2589-5516
pISSN - 2221-6189
DOI - 10.4103/2221-6189.221292
Subject(s) - medicine , rabies , animal bites , epidemiology , incidence (geometry) , public health , veterinary medicine , vaccination , population , demography , environmental health , immunology , pathology , physics , sociology , optics
Objective: To determine the incidence, epidemiology and demography of acute animal bites referred to Abdanan health centers in the years 2009 to 2013. Methods: This study was a descriptive analytical research. Questionnaires for each case of acute animal bite was completed. Data about age, gender, kind of animal, residency, site of bite, etc taken from Abdanan health centers were analyzed. Data were analyzed in SPSS by using descriptive statistics. Results: Total number of exposed persons to acute animal bites was reported 67 in 2009 and 69 in 2013. The average incidence rate was 1.2 per 1 000 population. Bites were\udfrequent among the age group of 20-30 years. Most of the cases were self-employment. Around 83.8% of cases were bitten by dogs. Of total 309 studied patients, 73.8% were male. Feet (71.5%) and hands (22.7%) were the most common body part affected. About 53.1% of cases were in rural population. Conclusions: Dogs seems to play a very important role in the epidemiology of rabies in Abdanan, Iran. No cases of human rabies were observed in our study. This may be because of increasing public awareness and the upgrading of health and treatment centers, all of which in study region provide post-exposure anti-rabies treatment including vaccination, immunoglobulin and wound washing