Rabies healthcare-seeking behaviors of urban and peri-urban residents: Results from a rabies knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey, Bangladesh, 2018.

• Published in: PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Yasmeen B Ross, Mahbubul Hoque, Jesse D Blanton, Erin D Kennedy, Md Sohel Rana, Sanya Tahmina, Sarah Bonaparte, Jennifer R Head, Ryan M Wallace
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010634; https://doaj.org/article/affbdd66b84847ee8d3c3b7419627aa7

Rabies is one of the most lethal infectious diseases, with those living in Asia and Africa having the highest risk of dying from rabies. We conducted a knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in urban and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh to describe canine bite rates, rabies knowledge, and healthcare seeking behaviors and barriers to human and dog vaccination. A bite risk assessment score (BRAS) and healthcare-seeking behavior score (HSBS) was calculated for each bite victim. Respondents were given two hypothetical situations to assess potential behaviors after a bite and willingness to pay for rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin. In total, 2,447 households participated in the survey and 85 bite victims were identified. The BRAS identified that 31% of bites posed no risk of rabies transmission. Multivariate analyses showed that living in Chittagong (β = 1.4; 95% CI: 0.1, 2.7) was associated with a higher HSBS. Findings presented here provide useful information regarding bite occurrences, healthcare-seeking behaviors, and a need for strategies to increase rabies awareness.