Rabies is still one of the most dangerous viral infections, posing a serious threat to public health across the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) has discovered that children account for the majority of rabies cases. Human dog bites are a big public-health issue. Poland has not yet been declared rabies-free. In humans, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) can successfully prevent mortality following contact with a possibly sick animal. For this study researchers wanted to determine the prevalence of PEP among children who had been exposed to animals and had visited the Jan Boy Hospital in Lublin’s Department of Infectious Diseases for Children for consultations. From 2010 to 2016, they reviewed the medical records of all pediatric patients (0–17 years of age) who had been exposed to animals and sought treatment at the Jan Boy Hospital in Lublin’s Department of Infectious Diseases for Children.
During the study period, 519 children who had been exposed to animals attended consultations, with 32.8% receiving preventive therapy consisting of active vaccination. Male children made up 55.3% of the total. The average age of the participants was 9.2 years. The largest group of children (406) had been exposed to dogs, followed by 62 children who had been exposed to cats, and 15 children who had been exposed to rats. The majority of the youngsters sustained injuries to their upper limbs. During the study period, 2010–2016, 1,713 confirmed instances of rabid animals were reported throughout Poland, including 60 incidents in the Lublin Province. In the exposed and vaccinated patients, no incidences of rabies were found.
The number of rabid animals in the Lublin Province had fallen to low levels, but the number of PEPs provided had not decreased as planned. Since all children were vaccinated in accordance with the recommendations, bites by animals not available for veterinary observation and a lack of more frequent reports regarding the current rabies epizootic situation are possible reasons for vaccinations being administered in quantities greater than the number of rabid animals recorded in the Lublin Province. In the Lublin Province, the usage of rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) in children is extremely low, at 0.58%. The annual numbers of exposed pediatric patients were comparable, indicating that education efforts to limit the frequency of animal bites in children should be implemented.
Reference:www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2018.1477910
