Retrospective study of animal bite cases reported in Masaka and
adjacent districts, Uganda from 2012 to 2015
Amia Winfred and Michel Dione
International Livestock Research Institute, Kampala, Uganda
Objective
Describe the demographics, human
and animal characteristics from animal
bite records obtained from Masaka and
surrounding districts in Uganda.
Findings
 With animal species as a dependent
variable, significant associations were
noted for age, sex, animal ownership,
health status of the animal during
follow-up and recommended
management after the bite incidence.
 For culprit dogs, fate at follow up was
usually unknown in rural settings, OR
2.9 (CI95; 1.5-5.6 , p<0.01)
 Men/boys had higher odds of getting
bitten, 3.95 (CI95 1.86- 8.04, p<0.01)
 Dogs with unknown health status had
twice the odds of biting, 2.34 (CI95;
1.40-4.83, p=0.02)
 Dogs suspected of rabies had almost
three fold the odds of biting, 2.63
(CI95; 0.02-6.82, p=0.05).
 Unvaccinated and stray dogs were
less likely to bite at 0.46 (CI95; 0.25-
0.83, p=0.01) and 0.516 (CI95;
0.271-0.983, p=0.04) respectively.
Conclusions
There is potential for high burden of rabies in greater Masaka.
Intensive health education programs on rabies should be tailored to the 5-19
years age group.
Regular vaccination and promotion of responsible ownership of dogs and cats
should receive high priority.
8.62
89.89
1.49
0 20 40 60 80 100
Cat
Dog
Other
ANIMALSPECIE
7.04
21.01
27.45
19.52
24.98
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
0.00-4.99
5.00-9.99
10.00-18.99
19.00-34.99
35.00-90.99
AGEGROUP
37.56
62.44
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Female
Male
GENDER
72.84
27.16
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Rural
Urban
AREA
61.65
36.97
1.39
58.97
0 20 40 60 80
Known
Stray
Wild
Unknown
ANIMAL
OWNERSHIP
37.76
3.27
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Unvaccinated
Vaccinated
VACCINATI
ON
STATUS
15.46
4.46
80.08
0 20 40 60 80 100
Alive
Killed
Unknown
FATEOF
ANIMAL
13.28
18.63
1.78
66.3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Apparently healthy
Suspected rabies
Apparently Unhealthy
Unknown
HEALTH
STATUS
Methodology
1052 animal bite cases were recorded
over a period of three years (1st March
2012 to 1st March 2015) from the
Masaka district local government
veterinary department where most
animal bite cases were liable to be
reported from the Greater Masaka
region
Data was analysed with stata® version
13.1 using logistic regression models.
A binary exposure variable was created
from the animal bites species variable
to distinguish between dog bites and
that from other animal species.
Background
 In Uganda there is a high burden of
animal bites in humans
 Dog bites play an important role in
rabies transmission and account for
99% of all recorded human rabies
cases
 Rabies is endemic in Uganda
Michel Dione
m.dione@cgiar.org ● International Livestock Research Institute
Kampala/Uganda ● www.ilri.org
Association of Institutions for Tropical Veterinary Medicine (AITVM) and the Society of Tropical Veterinary Medicine (STVM) Conference, Berlin, 4-8 September 2016
We thank all donors that globally support our work through their contributions to the CGIAR system
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (September 2016)
Dog characteristics Human characteristics