Analysis on the characteristics of epidemics of rabies in 2013 in China

Objective To analyze the geographical distribution and epidemiological characteristics of rabies in China in 2013, to guide the national rabies control and prevention. Methods The descriptive epidemiological method was adopted, and analysis was made based on the epidemic data of rabies in 2013 in China. Result Totally 1128 rabies cases were reported from 28 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions during this time, the incidence and mortality rates were 0.083/100000 and 100%, respectively. Rabies cases were reported in all the seven geographic regions in China. The number of reported cases in the south of the Yangtze River area accounted for 70.48% of the total number of case, much higher than the rest areas; 47.96% of them occurred in the top five provinces, i. e., Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The ratio of male and female was 2.28∶1. Cases were reported among all age groups. Most of cases were farmers, which covered about 71.01% of the total number of cases. The number of reported cases decreased in 2013 while decreasing in previously high risk provinces compared with that of 2012. Conclusion The incidence rate of rabies was continually reduced in 2013, and the trend geographically showed a moving from the south to north and the trend from the high risk region to the low risk region was also presented. Key words: Rabies; Epidemic characteristics