Treatment seeking behavior of the dog bite patients in Himachal Pradesh, India: a qualitative study

Background: Rabies is a practically 100% fatal zoonotic disease. A person is bitten every 2 seconds, and someone dies from rabies every 30 minutes. In this regard perception of victim and their attitude towards treatment forms an important role for prevention against rabies. It is noted that in Himachal Pradesh the less knowledge of people about rabies, impact of traditional healers and unavailability of the RIGs and ARVs especially in the primary health centers affect the treatment seeking behavior of the patients.Methods: A qualitative study was done in the three districts of Himachal with effect from 1st June 2014 to 30th May 2015. Thematic and simple proportional analysis of the data was done for the interpretation of the results.Results: Males were more victims as compared to females. Most affected age group was 0-15 years. 56.93% of the patients immediately washed the wound, 43.38% of the patients opted the rational treatment where as 57.62% used both traditional as well as rational treatment. Delay and drop out was seen in 69.24% and 21.53% of the patients respectively.Conclusions: Treatment seeking behaviour of the patients affected by the number of factors. Awareness among people about rabies and ensuring the availability of RIGs and ARV at all the levels of health care centers is necessary.