Working population most at risk of dog bites: Study

AHMEDABAD: A majority of Amdavadis get bitten by dogs while returning home from work - most of them below the knee. Stray dogs seem to be less aggressive towards women as is evident from men outnumbering members of the fair sex among dog-bite victims. Strangely, instead of consulting a physician, many Amdavadis use chilli and snuff powder as first aid for bite injuries.Worst of all, a majority of Amdavadis skip the crucial anti-rabies vaccine doses on Sundays thinking that government referral hospitals in the city would be closed.
A survey of 580 bite victims conducted by NHL Municipal Medical College's department of community medicine gave crucial insights into problems in management of dog bite cases. The researchers - Punit Patel, Nitin Solanki, Dinavahi Balaramanamma and Mansi Brahmbhatt - found that a majority of dog bite victims are from the 15-44 age group, most belong to the working population and that most dogs bites take place in the evenings. The next most vulnerable age group is that of 5-15 year olds which comprises mainly school going kids. Around 4% of the patients are below 5 years of age.
Of the 580 victims who were interviewed, 76% were men. Also, Class II bites - those defined as "scratches on non-dangerous parts with less than 5 bites" - constituted 91% of the total cases. Most common site of bites were legs (61%) followed by hands (16%) and thighs (10%). Timing of the bites showed that 42% of the cases had occurred during the evening, about 33% in the morning, and 23% in the afternoon.
A majority of the cases (60.3%) were reported within 24 hours of a canine biting the victim while 2% cases were reported after 5 days. A total of 72% patients had missed one or more doses of the anti-rabies vaccine.
"A good 34% of the victims had missed the fifth dose and 26% victims had missed the fourth dose of the vaccine," says the study. Around 21% had missed the third dose. A victim has to take five victims of the vaccine. A majority of the patients believed that the anti-rabies vaccine is not given on Sundays. This erroneous belief was found to be the most common cause for delayed dose at a referral hospital in the city.