Cross-sectional survey of rabies cases received from 2003 to 2014 in the department of Infectious and tropical Diseases at the Yalgado Ouédraogo University Hospital Center (Burkina Faso)

Abstract

Rabies, neglected tropical disease is responsible for 55 000 annual deaths, of which 44% in Africa. The
objective of this study was to describe the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with
rabies treated at the University Hospital Yalgado Ouedraogo.
Descriptive cross-sectional study covering the period from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2014.
Sixty cases of rabies were recorded. The average age was 29 ± 21 years old and children under 15 accounted
for 40% of cases. The male sex was 78.5%. Students (40%), housewives (18.5%) and farmers (16.7%) were
the most represented. The patients came from regions other than Ouagadougou in 48.3% of cases. The
abusing animal was a domestic dog in 40% of cases. After the bite, the dog was shot in 50% of cases. Twenty
Eight patients (46.6%) performed post-exposure management either in a traditional health care provider
for 19 patients (31.6%) or in a health center for 9 patients (15%). The main clinical signs were hydrophobia
(73.5%), psychomotor agitation (61.5%) and hypersialorrhea (41.5%). They all died and the average
length of stay was 12 days.
rabies remains frequent in our context and multidisciplinary actions are necessary to achieve its elimination.
Keywords: rabies, domestic dog, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.