Burden of illness of dog-mediated rabies in India: A systematic review

Abstract

India accounts for 35% of global burden of rabies. This systematic review attempts to measure the burden of illness of dog bites and dog-mediated rabies in India. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted on MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Central, PROQUEST, Sodhganga and Google Scholar. Two independent reviewers screened titles and abstracts and included full texts as per inclusion criteria. Critical appraisal of included studies was conducted using appropriate checklists. Data was extracted using standardized data extraction tools, analyzed and reported in narrative summary and tabular formats.Results: 35 studies were included for narrative synthesis after screening for inclusion criteria. The annual crude dog bite incidence was reported between 0.26% and 2.5% with stray dogs as main biting animal. The bites were mainly reported in males, between age group 10-40 years, individuals belonging to low socio-economic status and people working in fields. The annual economic and humanistic burden is estimated to be 2.85 million USD and 1.3 million DALYs respectively. Use of intradermal route of vaccination and equine rabies immunoglobulins has been reported to save cost and resources over use of intramuscular route of vaccination and human rabies immunoglobulins. Conclusion:The review highlighted the burden of disease at local, regional and national level. There has been dearth of studies reporting economic and humanistic burden at national level. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO ID: CRD42020213261.

RNA-Seq of untreated wastewater to assess COVID-19 and emerging and endemic viruses for public health surveillance

“…Stray dogs and rabies are a significant problem in India, accounting for 35% of the global disease incidents. 26 Like JMTV, rabies virus was more frequently detected in urban localities ( Figure 6 c; Chi-squared test, p-value = 0·003) although its cumulative normalised abundance was not significantly different between urban and rural environments (Bonferroni adjusted ANOVA test, P = 0·11). Given the increased public awareness of zoonotic diseases and the potential for emergent viruses through human-animal interactions, we included porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) E in our analysis ( Figure 6 d).…”

A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis to Avert Rabies Deaths in School-Aged Children in India

“…Hence, India contributes to approximately one-third of the global rabies burden annually. The disease mainly affects people belonging to a low socio-economic status and children in the age group of 5–15 years in the country [ 4 ]. A systematic review on dog-mediated rabies in India reported that the majority of the dog bites (>60%) in children below 15 years of age are experienced by children in the age group of 7–12 years.…”

“…Moreover, children (<15 years of age) are more vulnerable (58%) to experiencing 2–4 wounds per encounter. This could be related to their shorter stature and lesser strength to scare away the dogs and may lead to extensive bites, requiring operative interventions and thereby resulting in a greater morbidity and pain associated with bites and their treatment [ 4 ].…”

Hospitalization for dog bites in Poland between 2006–2020

“…Currently, publications on dog bites and related factors are derived from both high-income countries (e.g. Australia, UK, USA) and low-and middleincome countries, as Bangladesh [8], India [9] and Iran [10]. In Poland, to-date, only one attempt has been made to assess the phenomenon [11].…”