Compliance to post-exposure prophylaxis among animal bite patients - A hospital-based epidemiological study

Although rabies is a 100% fatal disease, it is preventable with appropriate and timely post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). A hospital-based study was conducted among 360 animal bite patients in the Anti-Rabies Clinic (ARC) of Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi (VMMC and SJH).

A predesigned, pretested, structured questionnaire was administered by the interview technique to assess the compliance to PEP among the animal bite patients attending the ARC, which comprised assessment of wound washing practices adopted by the animal bite patients, administration of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG), and compliance to full course of anti-rabies vaccination (ARV).

Out of 360 study participants, 131 (54.4%) had washed the wound using soap and water and 216 (89.6%) had washed the wound for less than 5 min. The compliance to the full course of ARV was seen among 172 (47.8%) study participants, whereas 164 (45.5%) were found to be non-compliant and 24 (6.7%) were found to be delayed compliant.

It was observed that a considerable segment of the study population did not practice the correct wound washing practices, and only about half of the total study participants (172; 47.8%) were found to be compliant to the full course of ARV. As rabies is a 100% preventable disease, increasing awareness pertaining to appropriate PEP may prove to be beneficial in improving the compliance to PEP and reducing the burden of mortality.