Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfProc7): Abstract 103 | Published: 07 Oct 2026
Shaibu Zakari1,2,&, George Akowuah2, Magdalene Odikro2, Gideon Kye-Doudu 2,3, Eugene Yeboah1, Samuel Sackey2, Ernest Kenu2
1Ghana Health Service, Tempane District Health Directorate, Upper East Region, 2Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, School of Public Health, Legon, Accra, 3 Fred Newton Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Volta Region
&Corresponding author: Shaibu Zakari , Ghana Health Service, Tempane District Health Directorate, Upper East Region, Email: zackzuli31@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: Investigation, dog bite, rabies, one health, Garu District, Ghana
©Shaibu Zakari 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: Shaibu Zakari et al. Investigation of human exposure following a suspected rabid dog attack in Tupint Community, Tempane District, Ghana, August 2025. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):103. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-00103
Rabies is a neglected yet preventable zoonotic disease that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations living in remote rural areas of resource-limited settings. Every country on the African mainland is considered endemic for dog-mediated rabies with an estimated 21,500 human rabies deaths annually. On 16th August 2025, a dog bite incident was reported in Tupint, Tempane District. An investigation was conducted to establish the circumstances surrounding the bite, assess the risk of rabies transmission, manage exposed persons and determine the vaccination status of the dog.
The first victim is a 40-year-old female, the owner of the dog, who sustained bites on her two fingers after the dog returned from roaming. The second victim was two-year-old boy who was attacked by the same dog about 90 minutes later, unprovoked. Community members who witnessed the attack on the boy killed and consumed the dog, including the head. Both victims were given rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) at a nearby health facility on different days. Both victims were observed for 14 days but showed no clinical signs or symptoms of rabies.
A suspected rabid dog attacked its owner and a two-year-old boy, leading to human exposures and the eventual killing and consumption of the animal in Garu District. The victims received PEP and were monitored for 14 days. Both cases are alive and looking healthy. The incident underscores the urgent need to intensify community awareness on the need to present such dogs for investigation, whether dead or alive, promote routine dog vaccination, and strengthen one health collaboration to prevent similar occurrences.
Menu