Epidemiological features and analysis on human rabies in 2015, China

Objective To analyze the epidemiological features and trend of rabies in China in 2015, and explore the prevention and control strategies. Methods Based on the data from Chinese Infectious Disease Surveillance Reporting System and sentinel surveillance system in 6 provinces in 2015, a retrospective analysis was made using descriptive epidemiological methods. Results A total of 801 cases were reported by 27 provinces which decreased 13.78%compared with those in 2014. Rabies mainly occurred in southern China, Tibet and Jilin reported a new case respectively in 2015. The rabies occurred in summer and fall commonly, and the majority of patients were farmers and old people. The ratio of male to female was 2.74: 1. 109 epidemiological questionnaires were collected, the main exposure was caused by dogs and a few by cats.A total of 588 870 outpatients following the rabies exposure were reported, 90.51%of them received full course vaccination, and 12.95% of them received passive biological immunity. Conclusions Rabies cases continued to decrease in 2015 and mainly occurred in southern China. The top provinces of reported cases were Guangxi, Henan, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, the unreported provinces indicated a trend of increase. The patients were mainly farmers and old people. Key words: Rabies; Epidemiology features; Surveillance