Florence Gyembuzie Wongnaah
Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Infec Dis Treat
The increasing number of poorly cared dogs has led to substantial increase in dog bites, especially in developing countries including Ghana, and this is known to be the source of rabies. Children and females are the most affected by dog bites. Even though some types of dogs have been identifi ed as being more hostile than others, every dog bites carry a risk of infection. In Ghana rabies results in almost 100% case fatality rate. Between the years 2000 and 2004, 123 cases of rabies occurred in Ghana whereas 22 were recorded by Korlebu Teaching Hospital between 2010 and 2014. In the Eastern region between 2014 and 2020, 25 deaths due to rabies were recorded. General practitioners form a signifi cant link in the chain of dog bite management, meanwhile, studies indicate that they are not equipped with the requisite knowledge. Therefore, they do not have appropriate practices to suffi ciently treat victims of dog bite and to prevent rabies from occurring in case the dog is rabid. Timely management of dog bite wound and administration of human rabies vaccine to an exposed person effectively prevent mortalities. Although rabies is not a reportable communicable disease in Ghana, its threat is increasingly high. Considering almost 100% case fatality rate of rabies and the fact that effective vaccines are available, this study is to evaluate general practitioners knowledge, attitude and practices regarding dog bite management in the Eastern Region of Ghana.
Florence Gyembuzie Wongnaah is a Masters of Public Health (epidemiology) student at Karolinska Institute, Sweden. She has an interest and passion for epidemiology and research and therefore persued a fi rst degree in public health at the University of Ghana. She was a public health offi cer working with Ghana health service. Florence has participated and implemented programmes in disease control activities, viz. diseases surveillance, outbreak investigation, vaccination campaigns, tuberculosis management etc. While in school, she focused primarily on courses related to disease control and prevention and the use of data to evaluate impacts. Her interest to study into tropical diseases at the early years of work motivated her to investigate into rabies in the Eastern Region Hospital in Ghana in 2012. Her research interest include: Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, Neglected Tropical Diseases, Immunization/cold chain and Malaria.
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