Authors: Rachelle Garcia, Filipinas Abundabar, Dhonna Cruz-Cambe, Veronica Dancil, Haixia Feng, Maricel Nasog, Bea- Gracia M. Cruz.
Rabies is a perennial fatal disease and animal bite is the major culprit. Over the decade, animal bite cases have been increasing in the Philippines [1].
This is a retrospective descriptive comparative quantitative research design. It aims to describe the pattern of characteristics of animal bite cases as well as to determine if there is a significant difference in the implementation of Rabies Prevention and Control Program (RPCP) in government and private Animal Bite Treatment Centers (ABTC) in Quezon Province both from the standpoint of patients and healthcare providers. It utilized convenience sampling in selecting the 200 patients and 10 Healthcare Workers (HCW) respondents. Records review and survey questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha of 0.84) were used to draw the information.
Animal bite pattern in Quezon Province peaked during May, July and August having an ascending trend from 2016 to 2017. Female and age group above 15 years old are the most common victims of animal bites. Dogs are the most common culprits of animal bites, with the bites predominantly classified as category II. RPCP in government (WAM=4.87) and private (WAM=4.38) ABTC is often implemented as assessed by patients and HCW. Despite that RPCP is often implemented, findings revealed that its implementation is significantly different in government and private ABTC (p-value <.00001 at α level 0.01) as assessed by both patients and HCW.
Despite the high extent of implementation of RPCP animal bite cases remains high and in ascending trend (26.35%). Identified areas needing improvement is deemed recommended to be corrected and monitored.
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