BITES AND POST-EXPOSURE RABIES TREATMENT OF HUMANS
Abstract
Background. In Slovenia rabies cases in animals in the last decades have been very rapidly changing. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of changing number of laboratory confirmed rabies in animals on post-exposure rabies treatment (PET) of humans in Slovenia. The comparison was made between the kind of laboratory confirmed rabid animals and the bites caused by variety of animals in postexposure treated humans.
Methods. The article is presenting the data about the number of PET patients during the years 1992 to 2000. Data was compared with the data of laboratory confirmed cases of rabies in animals in the same country and during the same period of time. Collected data was stored using the MS Excel spreadsheet.
Results. In the first four years of observation the rate between treated patients and laboratory confirmed rabid animals were 1.0 to 3.6, respectively. In the next years, this rate changed to 116.2 and fell again at the range of 7,3 in the year 2000. Bites were caused mostly by a dog of unknown owner but more frequently laboratory confirmed rabies was in the red foxes.
Conclusions. Because of existence of huge reservoir of rabies virus in animals almost all over the world, migration of animals and travellers, and some possibility of importing rabies by pets and other animals, it is difficult to overlook the need for post-exposure rabies treatment of humans. Prevention of rabies and health education must be conducted very carefully as well as vaccination of foxes.
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