1.Demographics, injury patterns, and management profile of animal bite cases in a national infectious disease and research facility.
Mark Joseph CASTELLANO ; Johanna Beulah SORNILLO ; Nobuo SAITO ; Akira NISHIZONO ; Beatriz QUIAMBAO
Pediatric Infectious Disease Society of the Philippines Journal 2025;26(1):3-11
BACKGROUND
Rabies remains to be a neglected tropical disease in the Philippines, with the country reporting a higher number of cases compared to its counterparts in Asia.
OBJECTIVETo describe the demographics, animal bite characteristics, and post-exposure prophylaxis of animal bite patients coming in for care at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), a large government referral center for infectious diseases, and animal bites.
METHODSElectronic patient records from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2019 were obtained from the National Rabies Information System (NaRIS) database of the Department of Health, and summarized using applicable descriptive statistics.
RESULTSA total of 14,614 patients were included over the two-year study period, and more than third of the patients were children below 15 years old, while more than half were adult males. Lower extremities were the most frequently affected area, while with children, more than a third of exposures were in the head and neck areas. Intradermal route was mostly used for the post-exposure prophylaxis, while WHO prequalified vaccines were utilized in more than 90% of the patients. Only 55.7% of patients completed the prophylaxis regimen at RITM.
CONCLUSIONThese findings reflect the significant exposure of children from animal bites, and the non-compliance of patients to the prescribed post-exposure prophylaxis.
Human ; Animals ; Rabies ; Post-exposure Prophylaxis ; Rabies Vaccines