A multicentric community survey on animal exposures among humans in India.

BACKGROUND: Rabies is a 100% fatal disease. There are inadequate data on animal exposures and rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) from community-based field surveys in India. OBJECTIVES: : The main objective of the study is to estimate the incidence of animal exposures (bite, scratch, or lick) in the study population and to describe the rabies PEP among the cases. METHODS: A descriptive survey was conducted in seven states of India between July and November, 2017. In each state, multistage sampling methodology was followed for selection of district, taluka/tehsil, block, and clusters within the block. The primary sampling unit was a household (HH). A case was a patient with animal exposure (bite, scratch, or lick) in the last 1 year from the date of survey. The animal exposure was categorized based on the WHO guidelines (Category-I, Category-II, and Category-III). The patients with the history of multiple animal exposures any time during the survey period was considered as a single case. RESULTS: A total of 1012 HHs were surveyed covering a population of 4294. 3016 (70.2%) participants were from rural settings and 1278 (29.8%) were living in urban settings. 2181 (50.8%) participants were male and 2113 (49.2%) were female. The annual incidence of animal exposure was 1.26% (confidence interval [CI]: 0.93%-1.59%). The annual incidence in urban setting was 1.33% (0.70 - 1.96) and rural settings were 1.23% (CI: 0.84 - 1.62). Majority (68.5%) of the cases were from rural settings, 61.2% of the cases were in the age group of 15-60 years. Among the 43 cases who had received PEP, 21 had Category-II exposures, of whom 66.7% had completed vaccination with either five doses intramuscular or four doses intradermal route. Similarly, 22 had Category-III exposures and only 4 (18.2%) cases had received rabies immunoglobulin and completed rabies vaccination. Six ( 11.1%) cases did not receive PEP. There was no report of human rabies case. CONCLUSION: The incidence of animal exposure was 1.26%. Rabies PEP in the cases was not satisfactory.

Community awareness and risk of rabies associated with exposure to animals in India.

BACKGROUND: Rabies is a fatal but preventable disease. Around the world, awareness studies about rabies have been widely used to understand the disease and in its preventive measures. OBJECTIVES: The present study was conducted to assess the awareness of rabies as a disease, its transmission, and prevention among the general population and also to assess the perceived health risks associated with exposure to animals. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken across seven representative states in India between July and November 2017. Multistage sampling methodology was followed to select 1012 households as the primary sampling unit, and one adult responsible respondent from each household was interviewed as study participants. RESULTS: Six hundred and eleven (60.4%) participants had heard of rabies. Only 0.2% had extensive knowledge of rabies. Majority (440, 72.0%) of the participants considered rabies as a fatal disease; 77.3% opined that risk of rabies from dogs was high compared to 41.6% who believed that there was little or no risk of rabies from cats. Only 37 (3.7%) participants were aware about preexposure prophylaxis. CONCLUSION: The awareness on rabies and its prevention in the study population was not satisfactory.

A Comparative Study on Social Media Usage and Health Status among Students Studying in Pre-University Colleges of Urban Bengaluru.

INTRODUCTION: Social Media usage is a "global consumer phenomenon" with an exponential rise within the past few years. The use of social media websites is among the common activity for today's adolescents, they are sometimes overused/misused, which may lead to social media addiction. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to assess and compare the prevalence of social media addiction between Government and Private Pre-University (PU) college study subjects, to assess the health problems related to social media usage among the study subjects, and to assess the various factors associated with social media addiction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Government and Private PU colleges situated in a selected ward of urban Bengaluru city through multistage sampling. A total of 1870 study subjects were recruited. A scale was developed to assess social media addiction. RESULTS: The prevalence of social media addiction was 36.9% among users, distributed equally among private and Government PUs. The most common health problem identified was strain on eyes (38.4%), anger (25.5%), and sleep disturbance (26.1%). Being a male, the habit of smoking, alcohol, and tobacco, consumption of junk food, having ringxiety and selfitis were found to be significant risk factors for social media addiction. CONCLUSION: Social media addiction was found in over one-thirds of subjects and majority had mild addiction.

Prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and its association with tobacco smoking and environmental tobacco smoke exposure among rural population.

A field survey was conducted for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) epidemiology in the rural field practice area of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore, India, which covers a population of 44,387 to find out the prevalence of COPD in adult subjects of 35 years and above using cluster sampling technique and to determine the association of tobacco smoking, environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) exposure and type of cooking fuel used with COPD. The overall prevalence of COPD was 4.36%. The prevalence among males and females were 5.32% and 3.41% respectively. The prevalence was found to be increasing with an increase in age. The tobacco smoke and exposure to ETS was significantly associated with higher odds of COPD with adjusted odds ratio 2.97 and 2.67 respectively. Thus, there was a significant association between tobacco smoking and ETS exposure with COPD.

An exploratory study on socio economic status scales in a rural and urban setting.

BACKGROUND: There are many different scales to measure socioeconomic status (SES). The present study was conducted with the objective to compare the most commonly used SES in rural and urban setting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This exploratory study was conducted in the rural and urban field practice area of a medical college situated in Bangalore for a period of 3 months between January and April 2010. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: To measure the agreement between the scales spearman's rank correlations was applied. RESULTS: A total of 120 families were included in the study. Among the 60 families surveyed at rural setting, it was observed that, majority 40 (67%) belonged to high class when the Standard of Living Index (SLI) scale was applied. Among the 60 families surveyed at urban setting, majority 30 (50%) belonged to high class when the SLI scale was applied. CONCLUSIONS: The SLI scale gives a more accurate and realistic picture of the SES of the family and hence should be the scale recommended for classification of SES in urban and rural setting.

Prevalence of domestic accidents in the rural field practice area of a medical college in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Domestic accidents are worldwide health problems. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore. A total of 5419 individuals were selected from 30 clusters (villages) using cluster sampling technique. Of the 5419 study population, 50.9% (2748) were males and the rest were females. The prevalence of domestic accidents in the rural community was found to be 9.6% (522 individuals who had sustained domestic accidents), was found to be more in females compared with males, which was statistically significant with P-value =0.0077 (Z value =9.09). Falls 43% (225) was the most common type of domestic accidents. The most common place of occurrence of domestic accidents was 46% (243) kitchen, most frequent site of injures in domestic accidents was upper limbs.

Rabies in a blind patient: confusion after corneal transplantation.

Two blind persons received corneal transplants from a single donor who showed no signs of rabies before he died. One of the recipients, a young girl, died 16 days later of rabies and the other recipient survived. We discuss the possible mode of transmission of rabies to the first recipient and the management of the second recipient.

Global positioning system: a new tool to measure the distribution of anemia and nutritional status of children (5-10 years) in a rural area in south India.

UNLABELLED: Global positioning system (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system that is of late being used in health care. OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to describe the geographical distribution and assess the prevalence of anemia and malnutrition in children aged 5-10 years with GPS. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This exploratory study was conducted over a period of 2 months in the rural field practice area of a medical college situated in Bangalore during June-July 2012. Children aged 5-10 years were the study subjects. RESULTS: GPS was used for describing the geographical distribution of anemia and nutrition status on the Google earth map. The prevalence of anemia in the study subjects was 8.7%. The prevalence of underweight, stunting, thinness, and severe thinness among the study subjects was 52.8%, 28.5%, 23.5%, and 29.1%, respectively; however, overweight and obesity were observed only in 0.9% and 1.2% of the study subjects, respectively. CONCLUSION: GPS was easy to use and was able to demonstrate the actual distribution of morbidity at the household level in the rural area.

Prevalence of bronchial asthma and its association with smoking habits among adult population in rural area.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in the rural field practice area of Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bangalore. A total of 3194 adult individuals (18-70 years) were selected from 30 villages (clusters) using a cluster-sampling technique. Individuals with symptoms suggestive of asthma were subjected for clinical examination for the diagnosis of asthma. Among the 3194 respondents, 1518 (47.5%) were males and 1676 (52.5%) were females. The prevalence of bronchial asthma was 2.88%. The prevalence of asthma was higher among those reporting a history of current smoking. Among current smokers, the number of cigarettes/bidis/hookah smoked daily did not differ (P > 0.05) between individuals without asthma and with asthma, whereas the mean number of years of smoking did differ (P < 0.001). There was significant association between tobacco smoking and bronchial asthma.