Prevalence of animal rabies in Pará State, Brazil, from 2004 to 2013

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To describe the prevalence of animal rabies in Pará State, Brazil, from 2004 to 2013.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A survey was performed using database of brains received at Rabies Diagnosis Laboratory of Arbovirology and Hemorrhagic Fever Section of Instituto Evandro Chagas, from 2004 to 2013, came from the six Medium Regions of Pará.

RESULTS:

Of the 13,987 samples received and analyzed in laboratory, 1.26% (176/13,987) were positive. The positive records, by species examined, were: 34.78% of horses (8/23); 34.71% of cattle (42/121); 25.00% of pigs (3/12); 1.33% of felines (5/375); 1.22% of canines (105/8,633); 0.27% of chiropters (13/4,797); and the other species (goats, sheep, simians, leporids, procyonids, rodents, and unidentified) were negative (0/26). Mesorregião Sudoeste Paraense presented the highest positivity rate (6.15%).

CONCLUSION:

The results presented in this study emphasize the importance of the annual immunization of production animals, as well the vaccination campaigns of domestic animals for the control of urban rabies, in order to reduce the incidence and lethality of the disease.