Demographics of animal bite victims & management practices in a tertiary care institute in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Rabies is an important public health problem worldwide and more than 50,000 people die annually of the disease1. The annual estimated number of dog bites in India is 17.4 million, leading to estimated 18,000-20,000 cases of human rabies per year2. As rabies is not a notifiable disease in India and most deaths occur in rural areas where surveillance is poor, it is widely believed that this figure may be an underestimate. In the past, a large proportion of rabies patients did not receive any vaccination, and many did not complete the full course. Sudarshan et al3 showed that the nerve tissue vaccine formed the mainstay of treatment; a high proportion of bite victims (39.5%) did not follow wound care, the use of rabies immunoglobulin was low (2.1%) and recourse to indigenous treatment was widely prevalent3.

The King Edward VII Memorial (KEM) Hospital in Mumbai, India is a tertiary referral centre with a rabies clinic that runs 24 hours. The present observational study was carried out in July to September 2010 in the rabies clinic of KEM Hospital, Mumbai, India, to collect demographic data on animal bite victims.

The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board and written, informed consent/assent was obtained from the bite victims over a 15 week period in 2010. An electronic database modelled on the information available from the WHO expert consultation on rabies was used4. Briefly, demographics, the Kuppuswamy index 20075, past history of dog bite, nature of the bite, whether the animal was a pet or a stray, extent of injury, post bite treatment, and status of biting animals following the bite were collected from 1000 consecutive patients. Economic burden from the patients’ perspective was calculated using both direct and indirect costs.

Results & Discussion

The victims were largely male (771, 77.1%), and the dog was the major biting animal (891, 89.1%). Bites were mainly of Category III 783 (78.3%). Only 308 victims washed their wounds with soap and water (Table).

Table Demographic characteristics of the patients (n = 1000)

All patients received the rabies vaccine free. Of the Category III bites, only 21/783 (2.7%) patients were prescribed human rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG). Of these 21, only two patients received HRIG from the hospital, while eight bought it from outside and the remaining did not actually take it for want of funds. Thirty two per cent did not complete the full Essen regime.

Patients visited the hospital from 2-6 times after the bite. The median cost to the patient per bite was 220 (3.5 US D) (range 10-8440; the upper figure indicating expenditure with HRIG). The number of working days or school days lost ranged from 0-12 days.

The present study conducted in 1000 consecutive patients in a tertiary referral centre in the city of Mumbai showed that Cat III bites form the majority of bites, only a quarter of these patients were actually prescribed HRIG, and eventually less than 2 per cent took it. The WHO recommendations include immediate wound washing, expeditious administration of rabies vaccine and for severe categories of exposure, infiltration of purified rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) in and around the wound6. RIG is rarely administered in low-income countries because it is expensive (from US D25 to over 200 depending on whether it is of equine or human origin)7 and in short supply8. Therefore, it is usually only post-exposure vaccination (without RIG) that is administered and our study confirms this. The primary reasons for non administration for HRIG in our study was the limited budget allocation for the HRIG, non availability at times in the market place and very few doses actually available for use. A limited quantity of equine RIG was previously available on the hospital schedule and was replaced in May 2010 in favor of the relatively safer HRIG.

Our study also showed that despite the bites occurring in an urban set up, only indigenous practices were used by 12.3 per cent patients (Table). This was lower than that reported by Sudarshan et al3, and was similar to the study done by Icchpujani et al9 in 1357 patients where 10.8 per cent of victims resorted to harmful and/or indigenous practices.

Rabies is considered one of the world's most neglected diseases in developing countries with a disproportionate burden amongst the rural poor and children10. In countries enzoonotic for rabies, cell culture vaccines continue to remain in short supply and unaffordable11. In Mumbai city, the preventive measures include 24 wards where dog bite cases are registered, a dog licensing department that carries out sterilization of stray dogs and liasoning with non government organizations (NGOs) for dog adoption and 18 municipal hospitals and 31 dispensaries where the vaccine is given free of cost12. The pilot project initiated by the National Centre for Disease Control in 2008 in five Indian cities to train medical professionals in animal-bite management and raising public awareness is one such initiative13. As the rabies vaccine as well as RIG continue to remain expensive, regimes with fewer doses like the Zagreb regime, the intradermal vaccine and monoclonal antibodies are likely to offer safe and cost-effective treatment option in the years to come14.