Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
Guilan Trauma Institute, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran.
Arch Iran Med. 2024 May 1;27(5):272-276. doi: 10.34172/aim.2024.39.
Rabies remains a public health problem in middle-income countries like Iran, despite being preventable. This study aimed to evaluate the six-year incidence of animal bites in the southern Caspian Sea region from 2016 to 2022, and focus on estimating the direct costs of animal bite cases using the incidence-based method.
A multicenter, registry-based study was conducted using surveillance data of animal bites.
Of the 40922 cases reported during the study period, 65.9% were male and 34.1% were female. Animal bites were most frequent among individuals over 50 years of age (23.5%), while children under 10 years of age had the lowest frequency of animal bites (2.3%). Animal bites were most common in June. Dogs were responsible for 33277 (81%) cases, cats for 5,624 (13.7%) cases, cows for 1054 (2.5%) cases, and other animals for the remaining cases. During the six-year study period, four deaths due to rabies were reported in the study area. The annual bite incidence rate was 386.3 per 100000 people in northern Iran. The males-to-female ratio was highest in 2019 (M/F ratio=2.4, 95% CI=1.2‒3.4).
The elderly are at higher risk of animal bites, especially in rural areas. It is important to emphasize the use of protective clothing, washing wounds with soap water and rabies vaccination as initial treatment. Targeted vaccination efforts for eligible animals should be prioritized to minimize unnecessary financial burden. Educating farmers about rabies prevention programs, especially in cases of cow bites, is also important.
尽管狂犬病是可以预防的，但在伊朗等中等收入国家仍是一个公共卫生问题。本研究旨在评估 2016 年至 2022 年里海南部地区六年内动物咬伤的发病率，并采用基于发病率的方法重点评估动物咬伤病例的直接成本。
本研究采用多中心、基于监测数据的登记研究。
在研究期间报告的 40922 例病例中，65.9%为男性，34.1%为女性。年龄在 50 岁以上的人群动物咬伤发生率最高（23.5%），而 10 岁以下的儿童动物咬伤发生率最低（2.3%）。6 月份动物咬伤最为常见。狗导致 33277 例（81%）病例，猫导致 5624 例（13.7%）病例，牛导致 1054 例（2.5%）病例，其余为其他动物导致的病例。在六年的研究期间，研究区域报告了 4 例因狂犬病死亡的病例。伊朗北部的年咬伤发病率为 386.3/10 万人。男性与女性的比值在 2019 年最高（M/F 比值=2.4，95%CI=1.2‒3.4）。
老年人发生动物咬伤的风险更高，尤其是在农村地区。强调使用防护服、用肥皂水洗伤口和狂犬病疫苗接种作为初始治疗非常重要。应优先对合格动物进行有针对性的疫苗接种，以尽量减少不必要的经济负担。向农民宣传狂犬病预防计划也很重要，尤其是针对牛咬伤的情况。
