engleski

Retrospective study of human rabies exposure and associated risk factors in Istria County, Croatia

Objectives: There is a limited number of studies examining risk factors associated with human rabies in Croatia.The aim of this study was to assess human rabies exposure and associated risk factors in Istria County. Material and methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was based on 1656 post-exposure patients reported at the Institute of Public Health of Istria County. The data set comprised patient data (gender, age, profession, post exposure prophylaxis) and animal data (species, breed, vaccination status, owner, keeping status, contact exposure (location, number, type and site of injuries). The significances (level of 95%) among groups were tested using Chi Square Test and Regression Analysis. Results: The age and sex specific distribution showed that the majority of cases of human rabies exposure were in people above 50 years of age (40.22%) and among males (62.48%) and after contact with dogs (78.92%) and cats (15.82%). In 92 cases of other contacts, the highest number of contacts was with fox (17.39%), horse (13.04%), squirrel (8.70%), rat (8.70%) and badger (5.43%). Owners were known in 75.72% of contacts, while in 24.27% of cases contact animals were not under owner control and in 17.75% of cases the own animals were involved. Most injuries were bites (86.23%) and scratches (46%).The vaccination rate in dogs ranged from 50% to 75.41% and in cats from 2.04% to 5.71%.In 84.54% of cases wounds were treated locally. The rabies vaccine was used in 14.67% of patients. Conclusions: A significant number of human rabies exposure cases in Istria county was reported. Relevance: The results provide valuable information about risk factors associated with human rabies exposure which is of great importance for public health and can be implemented in educational programs as well as in other preventive strategies.

human rabies exposure, risk factors, animals

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