Profile of animal bite victims attending anti - rabies clinic in a tertiary care hospital, Bengaluru

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION: </strong>Timely and complete post exposure prophylaxis is necessary for the animal bite victims to prevent rabies. Henceforth this study is done to know the profile ofanmal bite victims attending Anti &bull; Rabies Clinic and also to estimate their compliance rate to complete course ofAnti-Rabies Vaccination by intradermal route (IDRV).</p> <p><strong>METHODS:</strong> A Retrospective record based review was conducted in the Anti &bull; Rabies Clinic of Victoria Hospital. Bengaiuru from January 21a to July 31", 2015. The number ofstudy subjects was 1418 aner excluding rat and human bite, re-exposure and pre-exposure cases. The compliance rate to IDRV was found outfrom records and also by interviewing the patientortheirguardian through thetelephone.</p> <p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>This study shows that males were predominantly affected (75.8%) constituting the male: female ratio 3.1:1. Majority of the cases were children S 15 years (28.9%).96.7% of the vactims were bitten by dogs. of which 65% were from stray dogs whereas the rest from pet dogs ofwhich only 14% were immunized. Lower limbs (32.4 %) were the most commonEy Involved biting site. Majority (64%) had category Ill exposure. Only 25.3% of the victims reported for treatmentwithin 24 hours and 76 4% had compteted the full course of vaccination.</p> <p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>From this study we observed that males have higher incidence of animal bite than the females and most of the cases were children S15 years old. Mapnty had category Ill exposure. Only 76.4% had completed the full course of IDRV which is considerably low for this highly fatal disease. Communities especially the parents and the teachers should be educated through a strong Information Education and Communication programme.</p>