MONKEY BITES AND INJURIES IN THE ZAGREB ANTIRABIES CLINIC IN 2014

- Travelling around the world and visiting distant places and countries (especially national parks, parks of nature, natural resorts, etc.) sometimes may result in animal bites and injuries from the species which are not usually represented as the source of human rabies cases, such as monkeys. In the last ten to fifteen years, monkey bites and injuries present an unpleasant experience and cause a lot of problems for travelers and tourists when travelling to India, Thailand, Indonesia or Bali because they have to seek a medical facility for wound treatment, tetanus prophylaxis, antimicrobial therapy and rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). In 2014, 706 persons were registered at the Zagreb Antirabies Clinic as having sustained bites by various animals, ten of them reported to have been bitten or injured by monkeys. Nine of them sustained injuries during their travel to India, Thailand, Indonesia and Bali. All injuries occurred when they wanted to pet or tried to feed monkeys, or refused to give them food. Most of the monkeys were macaques, capuchins, or of unknown type. Only one monkey bite recorded in the city of Zagreb occurred in the Zagreb ZOO while a professional animal handler was feeding a capuchin monkey in the cage. He did not receive rabies PEP, but instead, the capuchin monkey was put under veterinary supervision. All other patients started with PEP in the countries where the injuries occurred and continued/completed it at the Zagreb Antirabies Clinic. They received antirabies vaccine only (PVRV, RABIPUR) upon 5-dose regimen (Essen scheme) and 2-1-1 (Zagreb scheme) regimen. None of them contracted rabies. After many years, monkeys were the animal species immediately following dogs and cats in the official report of the Zagreb Antirabies Clinic, which was quite surprising. Usually, monkey bites and injuries do not present a serious problem in daily routine because they occur sporadically.