Current Trends in Epidemiology of Rabies in Belarus

Abstract

Relevance. According to expert estimates, tens of thousands of people die every year from rabies infection, mainly in Asia and Africa, for whom the main source of transmission of the virus is dogs.The purpose of the work is to establish the epidemiological characteristics of rabies infection in Belarus from 2013 to 2018 in the absence of cases of rabies among the population. Materials and methods. A retrospective epidemiological analysis of treatment demand for anti-rabies medical care (ARMС), analysis of data on an epizootic situation was applied.Results and discussion. The population treatment demand for ARMС ranged from 209.60/0000 to 227.20/0000 and was characterized by higher rates 1.6–1.7 times (P ≤ 0.05) among people under the age of 18. The results of monitoring the epizootic situation of rabies revealed that among all wild animals the proportion of «fox» rabies was 80.7%, while 94.4% of the patients were injured by dogs and cats. In 2018 has increased in 3.3 times (P ≤ 0.02) the frequency of treatment persons with the 3rd damage category and in 1.6 increase (P ≤ 0.05) in the proportion of rabies of farm animals in the structure of the reasons for applying for ARMС in comparison with 2013.Conclusion. In Belarus, the relevance of the problem of rabies infection is determined by the activity of the epizootic process, the consistently high treatment demand for ARMС, the events of contacts of the population, including mass, with rabies animals, the annual increase in the frequency of registration of the 3rd category of damage, as well as refusals of immunization and spontaneous interruption of preventive immunization by patients.