Epidemiological characteristics of 22 993 cases with rabies exposure in Lanxi Zhejiang

Abstract

Objective To describe the epidemiological characteristics of rabies exposure population in Lanxi Zhejiang and to provide scientific basis for rabies control strategy.Methods The personal information of exposed-to-rabies population in outpatient clinic of dog injury from 2009 to 2012 in Lanxi were retrospectively analyzed,including person's gender,age,occupation,exposure time and processing.Results During the period,a total of 22 993 rabies exposure cases were reported,and the exposure rates for 4 years were 39.44/104,62.86/ 104,113.15/104 and 130.35/104,respectively.The ratio of male to female was 1.19∶1.The cases reported in July accounted for 11.99％,ranked the first in the list,while January had the least cases reported.Age groups in 0-9,40-49 and 50-59 years had larger number of exposures,which accounted for 14.81％,21.54％ and 16.77％.Most of the exposed cases were farmers(54.24％).The main exposure animal was dog(89.30％).In all age groups,the main exposure position was the lower limbs (59.24％) and upper limbs (33.49％).Most of the cases (97.68％) were treated by specialists in outpatient clinic of dog injury and 99.70％ of them received a whole course rabies vaccine inoculation.The treatment rate of anti-rabies immunoglobulin was low to 20.96％ in cases with grade Ⅲ exposure.Conclusions The reporting rates of rabies exposure have risen in recent years in Lanxi Zhejiang.The relevant departments should strengthen the immune prevention and management in dogs to reduce rabies exposure,and take appropriate measures to enhance immunoglobulin blocking treatment in grade Ⅲ expose cases to prevent the occurrence of rabies. Key words: Rabies; Exposure; Epidemiological characteristics