Conference abstract
Epidemiological profile of animal bite and rabies in Mozambique from January to August 2016
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2017:3(61).24
Oct 2017.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2017.3.61.185
Archived on: 24 Oct 2017
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Animal bites, rabies, surveillance data
Oral presentation
Epidemiological profile of animal bite and rabies in Mozambique from January to August 2016
Judite Celeste Monteiro Braga1,&, Antonio Nhambomba1, Lorna Gujaral1
1National Institute of Health, Maputo, Mozambique
&Corresponding author
Judite Celeste Monteiro Braga, National Institute of Health, Maputo, Mozambique
Introduction: rabies is a disease that causes tens of thousands of human deaths every year worldwide and dog bite is the cause of 99% of cases of human rabies. Cases of the disease have been reported through the country, especially in Tete, and Maputo Provinces. Epidemiological surveillance of animal bite and rabies is done by recording cases and deaths from animal bites. The objective of this study is to analyze data from the National Epidemiological Rabies and Animal Bite Surveillance system from January to August 2016.
Methods: for the period January to August, 2016, a descriptive analysis of data was made from the research records of the Epidemiological Bulletin Weekly (BES) Epidemiology Department of the Ministry of Health. Descriptive statistics were generating using four variables: sex, age, animal species, and bite location. Statistical analysis was performed using Epi Info (Version, 3.5.3). For the study, we defined as rabies a death cause by a bite of an animal which may cause rabies and, as animal bite, a bite of animal which can transmit rabies.
Results: among the 177 animal bite cases identified, 61.6% were male and 38.4% female. The most affected age group were children from 0-10 years, representing 29.5% of total bite cases. Among all bite cases, dogs attributed to 89.3% of the cases. In the Maputo Province, 67.4% of bite cases were reported, 45.5% were in the Matola City. The province of Tete reported through BES a higher percentage of rabies 48.0%.
Conclusion: during this period, males and children 0-10 years were most affected by animal bites, and occurred in Matola City and Maputo Province. Mass vaccination campaigns of domestic animals are recommended to reduce the circulation of the rabies virus in the canine population as well as sensitization of populations to adhere to health services after the animal bite.
