Conference abstract
Trends of dog bite, clinical human rabies and anti-rabies vaccination coverage in Imo State, Nigeria: 2005 - 2014
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2018:8(61).09
Apr 2018.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2018.8.61.643
Archived on: 09 Apr 2018
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Dog-bites, human-rabies, vaccination-coverage, rabies, dog-registration
Opening ceremony
Trends of dog bite, clinical human rabies and anti-rabies vaccination coverage in Imo State, Nigeria: 2005 - 2014
Gabriel Anosike Iroh1,&, Gabriel Ogundipe2, Ikeoluwa Ajayi3, Patrick Nguku1, Stephen Adebowale3
1Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria, 2Department of Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 3Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, college of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
&Corresponding author
Gabriel Anosike Iroh, Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria
Introduction: rabies is an acute viral encephalomyelitis which mainly affects carnivores and bats but can affect any mammal. It is endemic in Nigeria. However, epidemiological data needed for planning control strategies for this highly fatal but vaccine preventable zoonotic disease is scanty. We studied the trends of human-rabies, dog-bites and vaccination coverage in Imo State, Nigeria.
Methods: a retrospective study reviewing 10-year records of nine public and one private Veterinary clinic with dog registration and anti-rabies vaccination records was carried out. To capture dog-bites and clinical cases of human rabies, records were extracted from all private and public hospitals in the state. Variables extracted include age and sex of vaccinated dogs, victims of dog bites and human rabies and rainfall. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results: a total of 10, 264 dogs were registered and 5,595 (55.4%) were vaccinated. The dog annual vaccination coverage decreased over the 10-year period from 60.9% (2005) to 53.1% (2014) with more female dogs vaccinated (60% to 40%). A total of 436 cases of human dog-bites were reported (mean 44 bites per annum). There was increasing trend of dog-bite cases and cases were more in males (mean 54.4%) and children ≤ 20 years (51.2%). There was a weak positive correlation between number of dog bites and rainfall (r = 0.3; p < 0.05). There were 17 clinical human rabies cases; 12 (70.6%) were in males and those ≤ 20 years (94.1%) were most affected.
Conclusion: vaccination coverage of dogs is below the World Health Organization recommended coverage. The increasing trend of dog bites and high number of human rabies cases underscore the need for Imo State Government to organize enlightenment campaign to sensitize the public on the dangers posed by unvaccinated dogs and put in place mechanisms to encourage dog owners to vaccinate their dogs including subsidizing cost of vaccine.
