Management, Post-exposure Prophylaxis and Treatment of Dog Bites and Rabies Cases in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Rabies is usually a disease of animals, but it spreads over humans when an infected animal, particularly dog expose its saliva containing rabies virus into a scratch or other wounds of a person during their bites. Although, clinical forms of rabies cases are potentially fatal, human rabies can be effectively treated if the exposure is recognized before the symptoms develop. Appropriate post-exposure prophylactic measures, if employed in due time to individuals exposed to rabies virus will prevent the disease from occurring. A prospective observational study was carried out for a period of 1 month in a total of 54 patients at Government General Hospital, a tertiary care hospital located at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. The data collected was analyzed to know the prophylactic measures under taken for the management and treatment of patients based on their demographic profile and type of exposure (bites/rabies). The study results showed that the incidence rate is higher in male than female in both the types of exposures. Results clearly indicate that vaccines, mostly of human origin are usually administered in combination (RIG+ARV) for the prophylaxis of the disease with whole success, and drugs from several therapeutic classes were administered as multidrug regimens for the symptomatic treatment complications associated with post-exposure rabies illness.