Research Article
Nwoha RIO and Ugwuoke FN
Abstract
A 5 year retrospective survey of dog bite cases was carried out in Umuahia of Abia State, Nigeria using data collection and questionnaire on dog bite cases from 10 hospitals and within Umudike community which hosts Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike. The questionnaire was designed to obtain data on dog bite cases, and sex distribution and was administered using random sampling technique. The data on hospital dog bite cases was collected from 2009 to 2013. The incidence rate was recorded at 0.44% while incidence rate of 66% was obtained from the questionnaires. The incidence rate was high in females at 57% compared to 47% in males. Majority of household dogs were local mongrel breed managed under partial or no confinement. The dogs were mostly bred partly for security and largely for source of meat. Dog bite victims reported no knowledge of history of vaccination coverage of the dog and they mostly prefer unorthodox treatment on exposure. In conclusion, incidence rate of 66% on dog bite cases obtained from questionnaire was relatively high compared to 0.44% obtained from a 5 year hospital documented cases. Against this back drop massive campaign is required to enlighten the public on the need of presentation of dog bite victims to hospital. This would aid in early and proper treatment of victims and also help in obtaining reliable data on dog bite cases. In addition implementation of questionnaire should be considered as epidemiological tool in disease surveillance for accurate data collection.