Analysis of Animal Bite Patients for Prevention of Human Rabies in Korea, 2016

Introduction: Rabies is a zoonotic disease which transmitted by infected animal with rabies virus. More than 95% of deaths of human rabies patients were caused by dog-mediated rabies. In Korea, importance of surveillance of animal bite and active post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) was recognized from six rabid death patients without PEP treatment between 1999 and 2004. National surveillance system for patients with animal bite has been operated since 2011 to prevent and control human rabies. Here, we presented analyzing animal bite cases from national surveillance system in 2016. Methods: The information of animal bite cases were collected from the surveillance system by local public health center and the data were analyzed using Excel 2013 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23. Results: A total of 820 animal bite cases were enrolled in the system in 2016; 331, 474, and 15 cases from Gangwon, Gyeonggi and others, respectively. Among them, Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi (57%) and Chuncheon in Kangwon (37%) was comparatively high animal bite region. The rate of animal bite patient per 100,000 populations was the highest in Yangpyeong as 244.9, followed by 152.9 in Goseong. Animal bites occurred throughout the year, especially June was relatively high. The species of biting animal were dogs (88.2%), cat (10.0%), raccoon dogs (0.4%), and others (0.4%). The bite rate in man was 54.8% and age group of 50~59 years was the highest. The major bite sites were hands and fingers, as 44.6%. In bite type according to WHO guideline for treatment human rabies, category III cases were 84.8% and only 9.9% cases were promptly treated PEP. In addition, vaccination more than once without immunoglobulin was 13.2%. Conclusion: Human rabies by animal bite causes the public health problem. Rabies is a severe disease because there are no remedies after clinical manifestation. However, rabies is also preventable disease that can be prevented through rapid PEP treatment even if it is bitten by a rabid animal. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the patients of animal bites for prevention for human rabies. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (4800-4838-303-210-13).