A Study on Seasonal Trends among Animal Bite Victims Reported to a Tertiary Care Hospital, Jabalpur

Abstract

Abstract Background: Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease that is 100% fatal, yet 100% preventable. It is estimated that 17.4 million exposures with 20,000 deaths due to animal bites occur every year in India, with higher cases in particular seasons. Hence, this study aimed to find out the seasonal trend among animal bite victims for the past 3 years. Subjects and Methods: It was a record-based retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital, Jabalpur, for a period of 2 months (September 2022 to October 2022) for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 among 1518 victims. Data were entered into MS Excel, and descriptive statistical analysis was done using IBM-SPSS version 23.0. Results: It was observed that, majority were dog-bite victims with maximum unprovoked bite showing decrease in trend from 2018 to 2019, and then increase in 2020. In this study, maximum bites were seen in winter (23.99% in 2018, 52.61% in 2019, and 50% in 2020), followed by monsoon (12.64%) in 2018 and summer in both 2019 and 2020. Conclusion: In the study, maximum bites were noted during winter, followed by the monsoon in 2018 and summer in 2019 and 2020, showing an increase in trend and then a downfall in 2020, maybe due to the COVID-19 period lockdown. This study will help policymakers formulate appropriate plans, activities, and logistic support for the management of animal bite victims.