Background and Objectives: The epidemiological study was conducted to determine the distribution, determinance and economic impact of human dog bite cases in Union Territory Puducherry, India. The total population of puducherry is estimated around 1,244,264 in 2015. Materials and Methods: There are 39 Primary Health centers in the UT Puducherry (15 Urban & 24 Rural). This retrospective study was based on data from 12 Urban PHCs of Puducherry region, during the year 2015 and it collected data were analyzed considering age, sex, animal species, part of body bitten, vaccination regimen etc. In these study man-days exposure and also man-days lost were also calculated. Results: In the year of study, a total of 3635 human dog bite cases were recorded. Out of 3635 bite cases 61.62 per cent were males and 38.38 per cent were females. Among different age groups 35.50 per cent, 28.61 per cent, 24.00 per cent and 11.89 per cent of cases belonged to middle age, old age, children and teenagers, respectively. Most of the human bites were due to dogs (96.20 per cent). Among dog bites 84.00 per cent were due to stray dogs and 16.00 per cent was pet dogs. This was followed by cats (3. 25 per cent) and monkeys (0.55). In most of the people were bitten on legs (86.5 per cent), followed by hands (13.00 per cent) and other body parts (0.50). All the victims were treated by inactivated diploid cell anti rabies vaccine and no anti rabies serum was used. Based on the observation nearly 30.12 per cent of the victims did not complete their full course of vaccination regimen. Maximum numbers of cases were reported during the month of October to December (27.37 per cent). While estimating the man-days of exposure to the animal bites in Puducherry is projected to 2921 per one million of population in one year (29 per 10,000 populations). In cost analysis, estimated cost of ARV alone can be projected as Rs.26, 89,900 for the reported cases alone, approximately treatment expenditure was Rs.3, 63,500, miscellaneous cost was assessed as Rs. 9,08,750 and Man-days lost based on 5 days on each cases is causing a loss of Rs. 1,52,67,000. The total estimated lose for UT taking in to consider only cases reported in Puducherry government PHCs is Rs. 4,34,37,050. The study clearly shows amount of money lost on human dog bite cases is around 2.0% of the total money spent on the public health welfare in Puducherry. Conclusion: By effective stray dog control and by licensing of pet dogs in an area were loss can be reduced and that money can be used effectively by other development activities.
