Estimates of human cases of dog bites and rabies and economic burden of dog bites in Homa Bay County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Dog bite is a prevalent but underreported problem in the developing world. It’s almost always associated with rabies.
Rabies, disease still causes untold suffering and death in the developing world. It is mainly transmitted by dog bites which are grossly under-reported in Asia and Africa. Control efforts of rabies have seemed unsuccessful due to lack of data on dog bites and rabies to inform policy development.
Objectives: Estimate human cases of dog bites and rabies and assess the economic burden of dog bites in Homa Bay County, Kenya.
Study design: Two sets of data were collected: - retrospective study of hospital records from 2016 to 2019 and Survey (prospective study) of households in Homa Bay County in 2018. The latter method employed simple and systematic random sampling methods.
Results: There was high dog population of 192,000 in the county. Dog to person ratio was 1:6. Only 27% of the dogs were vaccinated against rabies. Incidence of dog bites was 1.57% population. Children under 15 years of age, were most affected.
Compliance with recommended vaccination regimen was low due to prohibitive cost of vaccine, its non-availability at time of health facility visits and the transport cost.
Conclusion: This study has shown that dog bites and by extension rabies, is a major public health problem in Homa Bay County. There is a need to scale up rabies control efforts through dog bite prevention in the county with public participation being a major component of that.