Epidemiology of dog bites in Patna: A cross sectional study

Background: Dogs bite more than 4.7 million people a globally. India has the highest rate of human rabies in the world, primarily because of stray dogs, whose number has largely increased since 2001. Experts believe that public education can prevent these bites. The objectives are to estimate dog bite rate, describe dog bite characteristics, its risk factors and heath seeking behaviour of victims. Material and Methods: A community based cross sectional survey was done in urban areas of Patna, the capital of Bihar. A multistage sampling technique was used. Dog bite cases in the last one year were included. Results: We studied 5140 individuals (male 53%; female 47%). Dog bite cases were twice in males than that of females (26% and 13% respectively; p=0.0010) which increases with age up to 15 years, came down at 45 years and further went up, showing a bi-modal pattern. Dog bite incidence rate was 20 cases/1000 population (95%CI: 16, 24). The proportion of category III bite, leg bite, bite by male dog and bleeding was observed in 82.5%, 68%, 80% and 74% of cases respectively. Ninety two percent subjects took treatment within 24 hours, 45% washed their wound(s) with soap and water immediately after the dog bite, 76% sought medical help whereas 47% got vaccinated. Conclusion: Males are being more affected than the females and pattern of bite is bimodal, most bites were of cat III and involved dogs were male. Dog bites occur more during the summer season. Only one third of dogs who bit someone were found to be vaccinated. About 92% study subjects took treatment within 24 hrs of bite.