Canine rabies epidemiology in Araçatuba and neighborhood, Northwestern São Paulo State - Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Silva,Luzia Helena Queiroz da
• Data de Publicação: 2004
• Outros Autores: Bissoto,César Eduardo, Delbem,Ádna Cleia B., Ferrari,Clara Isabel de Lucca, Perri,Sílvia Helena Venturoli, Nunes,Cáris Maroni
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0037-86822004000200005
• topic: Dogs; Canine rabies; Epidemiology; São Paulo State

Epidemiological characteristics of canine rabies in the northwest region of São Paulo State (Araçatuba region), Brazil, from 1993 to 1997 are presented. Out of 1,984 dogs, a total of 351 (17.7%) were positive for rabies diagnosis; 89% (312/351) of these occurred in urban areas and 85% (266/312) of the urban positive cases were among owned dogs. The mean age of the rabid dogs was 34 months and 61% were male. Aggressive behavior was observed in 77% of rabid dogs, followed by lack of coordination and paralysis (42%) and 48% of these dogs were responsible biting people or other animals. Information about vaccination status was obtained from 182 records and 51% of rabid dogs were non-vaccinated. The number of unvaccinated rabid dogs indicates a low vaccination index and this factor added to the high dog/man ratio must have contributed to the canine rabies epizootic observed in the studied area.