Evaluation of the spatial distribution pattern of animal bites in Southern Iran: implications for public health interventions.

Introduction: Animal bites are an important and dangerous threat to human health, and in many cases, the venom from the bite or the subsequent infections can threaten human life. Accordingly, the present study was conducted to evaluate and analyze the spatial distribution of animal bites in Zahedan City.

Methods: This applied study is descriptive-analytical. Data collection was done through documentary and field methods. Data related to patients with animal bites in Zahedan City were collected from health centers in Zahedan City between 2017 and 2019. Data related to temperature and precipitation were also obtained from the Meteorological Organization. To evaluate the spatial distribution pattern of patients with animal bites, three nearest neighbor average methods, global Moran spatial autocorrelation method, and local spatial autocorrelation method were used.

Results: The highest number of animal bites occurred in August and July (338 and 324 cases, respectively), with dogs causing the most bites (2725 (78.1%)). The most common cause of animal bites was a sudden attack by an animal (33%).The results also indicate that more animal bites occurred in summer and spring than in autumn and winter (P-Value < 0.05). The results of spatial distribution analysis showed that the distribution of this disease is clustered, so that in the northern regions, the concentration of high-high clusters is high, and in the eastern and southern regions, the concentration of low-low clusters is low. The study of the spatial distribution of animal bites about land use shows that the highest number of animal bites occurred in the industrial area of ​​Zahedan City, followed by agricultural lands, including gardens and wastelands.

Conclusion: Considering the high frequency of bites in the summer compared to other seasons and the industrial and agricultural nature of the region, it seems that education of residents and populations, compliance with safety tips by the people, and greater attention by the authorities in the mentioned areas (prevention to control stray dogs, vaccination of domesticated animals) can prevent animal bites.