Overview of Rabies in and around Addis Ababa, in Animals Examined in EHNRI Zoonoses Laboratory Between, 2003 and 2009

Abstract

A retrospective data on the number of confirmed animal rabies cases and applied rabies control measures over the period 2003-2009 were collected and analyzed to elucidate the situation of animal rabies in and around Addis Ababa. Over the last seven years, 2517 animals brain tissue samples from Dogs, Cats, Cattle, Horses, Donkeys, Shoats, Hyenas and Monkeys were examined for rabies using Fluorescent Antibody Test. Out of all samples examined, 76.9% (n=1936) were positive for rabies antigen. A statistically significant difference (χ2 = 34.08(1), P<0.0001) in sample positivity was observed between male and female dogs, which seems higher proportion in males 79.2% as compared to 66.9% in females. Higher proportions
of cases were confirmed in stray (86.3%) than owned dogs (73.5%). The difference was highly significant (χ2 = 34.79(1), P<0.0001).There was highly significant difference (χ2 = 46.73(1), P< 0.0001) in positivity on the vaccination status of dogs. The annual vaccination coverage varies from 1.8-3.8% during the last seven years. The annual confirmed number of rabies cases dropped in 2005 and 2007 during the last seven years rabies trend in and around Addis Ababa. Statistically significant difference was observed (F=11.65, P< 0.0001) in mean number of confirmed rabies cases among 12 calendar months, more number of animal rabies cases was confirmed in summer season.

Keywords: Addis Ababa, Animal, Control, Dog, Positivity, Rabies, Trend