Journal of North Khorasan

Background & Objectives: Animal bite is an important and preventable health hazard. That can transfer the zoonosis diseases such as rabies. This study aimed to determine the epidemiology of Animal bites in North Khorasan province in Iran. Material & Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study data were gathered form patient who suffered from animal bite and referred to health centers located in Bojnurd, during 2005 - 2011. Data were obtained from the data bank of the health center and analyzed using SPSS 18software, and presented with chi-squared and Student t-tests. Results: A total of 5909(77.36% males and 22.64% females) animal bite cases were reported during the study period. The most affected persons were residents in rural areas (72.04%). Most victims were bitten by dogs (93.92%), the number of patients with incomplete vaccinations was (90.12%) compared to (9.88%) completely vaccinated. The animals were domestic in 85.21% of cases, the monthly distribution of animal bite cases (average animal bites per month per year) showed no different. (P>0.05) Conclusions: Since the incidence of animal bites has been increased in recent years, the dog population should be controlled and vaccination of domesticated animals should be considered Education about animal bite prevention is an important policy for preventing this problem and consecutively rabies.