Knowledge, attitude and practice about animal bite and rabies among victims attending a rural hospital in eastern India

Abstract

Rabies is highly prevalent in India. It is almost always fatal but preventable by timely administration of vaccine and proper wound care. Rural population have high disease burden. This may be partly due to lack of knowledge regarding the disease. Objectives- To identify the knowledge, attitude & practice of rural people attending in a rural hospital for animal bite management. Materials and Methods- Cross sectional observational study with 119 patients (period prevalence in February 2013). Results- Dogs were the main biting animal (87.4%). Children were the main victim(47.9%). 21% (25) of the respondent said that animal bite may lead to rabies. Neighbors were the main source of knowledge (38.7%). Mean duration of delay in presenting to hospital was 5.02 days. Roughly one third applied soap water to clean the wound. Attitude and practice was significantly associated with knowledge and attitude respectively (p<0.05). Conclusion- Rural population lack enough knowledge on rabies. Targeted group approach like educating mother and children may help improving health care utilization correctly.

Keywords

• Rabies, Animal Bite, Bite Wound Management