Epidemiology of suspected rabies cases in Ethiopia: 2018–2022

Abstract

Rabies is a zoonotic disease affecting both public health and the livestock industry in Ethiopia. However, there is limited national-level information on the extent of the disease. Therefore, we studied the national burden and distribution of Rabies on both humans and animals. We conducted a retrospective descriptive study on rabies by obtaining five years (2018–2022) data from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and the Ministry of Agriculture. We analyzed the incidence, mortalities, temporal and spatial patterns. Microsoft Excel and ArcGIS version 10.2 were used for descriptive and spatial analysis respectively. A total of 37,989 Rabies suspected human exposure cases and 297 deaths were reported with a mean annual number of 7,598 human exposure cases and 59 deaths. The exposure case and mortality incidence rates were 6 and 0.05 per 100,000 populations respectively. Suspected human exposure cases significantly increased from 5,217 (2018) to 11,298 (2022) at a rate of 2.2. In the same period, 2,094 animal suspected rabies cases and 1,682 deaths were reported predominantly in dogs (71.2%), followed by cattle (27.8%) and other domestic animals (1%). There is high rabies suspected human exposure cases at national level. Suspected rabid dogs were the major source of infection in humans. There were gaps in the reporting of animal cases and low dog vaccination coverage. Hence, it is important to strengthen One Health collaboration to enhance surveillance, information sharing, and diagnostic capacity and improve mass dog vaccination coverage.