Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess epidemiological and anti-rabies vaccination status in children in our hospital.

Material and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of the patients who presented to our clinic with complaint of animal bite between January 2015 and December 2017.

Results: A total of 162 children presenting with animal bites were included in this study. The mean age was 9±4.8 years and 66.1% of the patients were boys. Most (53.1%) of the patients were injured by cats and 14.8% of the animals were vaccinated. In the study group, 61.1% of the patients had category III contact and 38.9% had category II contact. The wound was in the upper limbs in 59.3% of the patients, the head and neck in 21% and the lower limbs in 19.8%. Lesions were on the bare skin in 66.7% of the cases and 86% of the patients presented to our clinic without previous wound care. Only an antiseptic solution was used in 79.3% of the patients who had received wound care before admission. The vaccination rate was 95.1% and human rabies immune globulin was used in 46.9% of the patients.

Conclusion: The outcome of an animal bite can be fatal. The only preventive and curative measures are anti-rabies vaccination and the use of human rabies immunoglobulin. Education of the population and health professionals is therefore crucial to ensure 100% compliance with appropriate management

Keywords: Rabies, Vaccination, Immunoglobulin

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Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite

1.
Kocabaş BA. Retrospective Assessment of Children Exposed to Animals and the Anti-Rabies Prophylaxis Practices in Our Clinic. Turk J Pediatr Dis [Internet]. 2018 Aug. 1 [cited 2025 Jul. 13];12(2):104-7. Available from: https://turkjpediatrdis.org/article/view/523