Epidemiological Study of Animal Bite in Students in Hashtrood Town: 2006- 2010

Background and objectives : Rabies is an acute and fatal infectious disease that is very important due to high economic losses to livestock and the amounts of expenditures that are paid for purchasing serum and vaccine. The main way of disease transmitting is bites by rabid animals. Animal bite is an important threat for human health. The main aim of this research was epidemiological study of animal bite in the students of Hashtrood town. Material and Methods : In this cross-sectional study, animal bitten students’ data were collected trough the records of Hashtrood health centers registry lists between 2006-2009. The census data collecting method was used and the data were analyzed with statistical software SPSS15. Results : The incidence of animal bites in the past 5 years was 9.07 per 1,000 students. From 439 animal bitten students, 80.9% were male and 19.1% were female. According to the results, 88.4% were rural and 11.2% were urban residents. Dogs bite was the cause of 87.92%. In 86.5% of the cases, the bite was superficial and in 8.4% of the cases, bites were deeper. Among them, 16.6% received anti rabies serum, 16.2% received vaccine. This study showed that 4.8% had a previous history of bite. Of total, 78.8% made a visit to health centers in the first 24 hours, 11.4% within 25 to 48 hours, and 3.6% within 49 to 72 hours after bites. There was no human death report from rabies. Results showed that 95.2% were given incomplete vaccination and 4.1% had received five complete vaccines. Conclusion : Regarding the high prevalence of animal bites among students, educating students about the importance of rabies, students’ behavior with dogs and immediate visit to health centers after exposure to dogs should be taken serious. Restraining dogs by training dog owners and legal means should be attempted.