A Lancet study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research revealed 9.1 million annual dog bites in India and urged a One Health approach to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030.

“Integrating human and animal surveillance, ensuring timely administration of the full course of post-exposure prophylaxis, and accelerating dog vaccination across the country are crucial steps towards this goal,” the study said. “Since there is a global target of eliminating dog-mediated human rabies by 2030, understanding whether the country is on track is essential.” 

The study was based on a community-based nationwide cross-sectional survey with a multistage cluster-sampling design from March 2, 2022 to Aug 26, 2023, covering 60 districts in 15 Indian states. The head of the household or an adult family member was interviewed to collect information about animal-bite history in family members, receipt of anti-rabies vaccination (ARV), and death following animal bite in the family.

Among 337,808 individuals from 78,807 households, 2,052 reported animal bites in the past year, with dogs accounting for 76.8% of the cases.

 “Annual dog-bite incidence was 5·6 (4·8–6·6) per 1000. Among people who had been bitten by a dog, 323 (20·5%) did not receive ARV, and 1043 (66·2%) received at least three doses,” the survey found. “Nearly half (615 [49·1%]) of the 1253 individuals who received one dose did not complete their full course of vaccination. We estimated 5726 (95% uncertainty interval 3967–7350) human rabies deaths occurring annually in India.”

In August, a government statement quoting Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme stated that 30,43,339 dog bite cases were reported during 2023.

Over the past five years, the number of dog bites reported in India under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Plan-Integrated Health Information Platform (IDSP-IHIP) were: 7,277,523 (2019), 4,633,493 (2020), 1,701,133 (2021), 2,180,185 (2022), and 3,043,339 (2023).

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