Evaluation of Cases with Rabies Risk Contact Presenting to the Emergency Department: A Two-Year Analysis: A Two-Year Analysis, Analytical Research Acil Servise Başvuran Kuduz Riskli Temas Vakalarının Değerlendirilmesi: İki Yıllık İnceleme: İki Yıllık İnceleme, Analitik Araştırma

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Özsemerci H. A., SÖĞÜT Ö., ÜMİT T. B., Ergenç H., ÇAKMAK S.

Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, cilt.43, sa.1, ss.1-7, 2023 (Scopus, TRDizin)

Özet

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate whether prophylaxis including vaccine and immunoglobulin applications is performed appropriately in cases who present to the emergency department due to rabies risky contact. Material and Methods: This study was con-ducted as a retrospective, cross-sectional, observational, and single-cen-ter. All cases of rabies risk contact who presented to the emergency department of our hospital between 01 September 2019-31 August 2021 were included. Results: A total of 3,738 cases were included in the study. Of the cases, 2,257 (60.4%) were male and 1,481 (39.6%) were female. The highest number of cases was between the ages of 10-19 with 858 (23.0%), and the lowest number of cases was over 65 years with 84 (2.2%). It was seen that there were more admission in summer (1,164 cases 31.1%) and autumn (1,013 cases 27.1%). There were 2,064 (55.2%) cases presented to the emergency department following contact with cats, 1,656 (44.3%) dogs, and 13 (0.3%) wild animals (wolf, fox, jackal). In addition, there were 3,089 (82.6%) cases presented with stray animals, and 649 (17.4%) of the cases presented after contact with a owned ani-mal. Of the cases, 81 (2.17%) were not recommended prophylaxis, 2,420 (64.74%) were vaccinated in 4 doses, and 1,097 (29.35%) were vaccinated in 3 doses. Conclusion: The data we obtained in our study indicate that the majority of cases with rabies risk contact are in the 10-19 age group of children and young adults. Also, we observed that the cases were frequently presented to the emergency department after contact with stray animals in summer and autumn. It has been determined that the vaccination rate of animals in contact with rabies risk is low, regardless of whether they are owned or not. In addition, it has been observed that there is no application that standardizes wound cleaning. We concluded that ef-fective prophylaxis of rabies risky contact cases is made with 3 or 4 doses of vaccination recommended in the current rabies guideline.