The prevalence of rabies and animal bites during 1994 to 2003 in Kerman province, southeast of Iran

Abstract

To find the prevalence of domestic and wild animal bites in general, and that of rabies disease in human,in particular in Kerman province, southeastern Iran, a retrospective study was conducted. The necessary dataincluding residence place (urban or rural) of bitten persons, age and job of people were collected during a 10-year period from 21 March 1994 to 21 March 2003 from all regional cities including the urban and ruralareas of the province. Data were analysed by chi-square, Fisher's exact test, Pearson correlation coefficient,Student's t-test and Kolmogrov Smironov test using SPSS (v. 11.5). The results of the present study showedthat the fatal cases of human rabies in the province of Kerman from 1994 to 2003 were 10 persons (8 malesand 2 females), half of whom had been bitten by dogs and the others by foxes. No human rabies reported in1994 in Kerman province. 47% of animal bitten persons had been injured through feet; 41% hands; 7%trunks; 3% faces and 2% through head and neck. From all (21,546 people) who had been bitten by animalsduring the studied period, 55.57% were living in rural and 44.43% in urban areas; 79.36% of them weretreated by non-completed rabies prophylaxis regimens and 20.64% received completed rabies prophylaxistreatmentregimens. The most common affected age group was 10–19-year-old persons; the least waschildren aged under 4 years. Males were more frequently (73.48%) affected than females (26.52%) (PWe found that there was a significant inverse correlation between the amount of annual raining and theincidence of animal bites (r = 0.5, P = 0.01); the incidence of animal bites was increased during the droughtyears. The increasing number of stray dogs and cats should not be ignored by public health authorities as wellas Veterinary Public Health Organizations related to strategic programs of rabies control in the southeast ofIran.