Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfProc7): Abstract 099 | Published: 07 Oct 2026
Sorengmen Amos Ziema1,&, Innocent Edem Fayison1, Innocent Akeamah1, Precious Kwablah Kwadzokpui1, Daniel Kwasi Omani-Amoah1, Kplorla Ahiawortor1, Innocent Siayor1, Isaac Selasi Wemegah1
1Directorate of Allied Health Services, Ho Teaching Hospital, Ho, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Sorengmen Amos Ziema, Directorate of Allied Health Services, Ho Teaching Hospital, Ho, Ghana, Email: ziemaamos@gmail.com
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 07 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
This is part of the Proceedings of the 8th Ghana FELTP Scientific Conference and FELTP Competency Graduation, Accra, Ghana, 10 – 11 December, 2025
Keywords: dog bites, human rabies, rabies deaths, patients, dog vaccination
©Sorengmen Amos Ziema et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Sorengmen Amos Ziema et al. Rising dog bites and rabies deaths in Ho Teaching Hospital, Ghana, 2021-2024: A threat to zero human dog-mediated rabies deaths by 2030. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):099. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0099
Dog bites cause almost all human rabies, which remains a fatal public health burden in Ghana. Globally, about 59,000 people die from rabies annually, hindering the goal of zero human dog-mediated rabies deaths by 2030. We analyzed data on dog bites and rabies cases reported at Ho Teaching Hospital (HTH), Ghana, to assess the local threat to this global goal.
A retrospective review of electronic health records (from Lightwave Health Information Management System database) of patients presenting at HTH, Volta Region with dog bites or rabies from 2021-2024 was conducted. Cases were identified using International Classification of Diseases, tenth revision codes A82, W54, and Z24. Sociodemographic characteristics and clinical data were extracted. Descriptive analysis was performed and presented as frequencies and percentages.
For outpatients, 361 dog bite cases were reported, showing year-on-year increase; 69, 82, 96 and 115 from 2021 to 2024 respectively. Median age of outpatients was 22 years (range: 9 months to 94 years), and 189(52.4%) were males. Most (277, 76.7%) patients were from Ho Municipality, and 21(5.8%), 20(5.5%), and 16(4.4%) from neighbouring Adaklu, Agortime-Ziope, and Ho West districts respectively. Eighteen patients required hospitalization for severe lacerations from dog bites. Three (100%) patients diagnosed of clinical rabies in 2024 died; two females and a male, with age range of 2-20 years. The rabies patients only reported to HTH after 1-3 months of being bitten by a dog, with none receiving post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
The rising cases of dog bites in Ho Municipality and neighbouring districts with high rabies fatalities due to lack of PEP threatens attainment of zero human dog-mediated rabies deaths by 2030. The One Health approach of vaccinating dogs and increased public awareness of PEP services is essential to achieving the goal.
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