Estimates of the Incidence and Burden of Human Cases of Dog Bites in Juba City, South Sudan

Abstract

Rabies is a disease of ancient time. It has a case fatality rate of 100% and it is transmitted to humans by rabid animal especially domestic dogs. Thus dog-bites are an indicator of the burden of rabies in human populations. The objectives of this study were 1) To estimate the incidence of human cases of dog-bites in Juba City South Sudan 2) to assess the burden of dog bites in Juba City, South Sudan. The study was conducted in two parts a retrospective five years (2015-2019) data collection at the Juba Teaching Hospital (JTH) and Juba Veterinary Clinic (JVC). Then data were collected prospectively at the same health facilities for four months (August-November, 2019). Data were collected by administration of questionnaire via personal interviews with the dog-bite cases. Data collected included age, sex, location site of the body where bite was inflected, vaccination status of the biting dog and Post-Exposure Prophylaxis(PEP). (Epi-Info version 3.5) were used for data analysis. A total of 138 cases of dog bites were reported in the five-year retrospective data at the JTH and JVC. There was steady increase in the number of human cases of dog-bites in the years (2015-2019) under review. Dog bites appeared throughout the year with a peak in July and September. Cases of dog-bites were reported throughout the administrative units of Juba City Council, Kator (58%), Munuki (27%) and Juba (15%). Kator had the highest human population age density. Boys especially bellow twenty years of age were the most affected by dog bites. More males than females of all age-groups were affected. The majority (69.9%) of the bites were inflected in the lower extremities. Other sites included upper extremities (23%), face (2%) and stomach (2%).........................................................................