Epidemiology of reported human rabies cases in Nepal, 1992-1996

Abstract

Human rabies is the most dreadful of all communicable diseases. Human rabid cases are reported from time to time in Nepal. An estimated 100 or more persons die of hydrophobia in Nepal annually. With an objective to study the epidemiology of human rabies in Nepal, all the human rabid cases were collected in a standard format from different hospitals during the period from 1992 to 1996. The analysis of reported human rabid cases indicates that rabid cases are reported from both rural and urban areas of Nepal due to negligence after animal bite. A total of 181 cases were reported in the kingdom of Nepal during the period from 1992 to 1996. All the hydrophobia cases except one were diagnosed on clinical background. Only 6 patients developed rabies despite complete or partial anti-rabies vaccination during the last 5 years. Sixty-one percent human rabid cases were reported from Central Development Region alone. Forty to eighty-one per cent hydrophobia patients were children. The male to female ratio was 3:1.

Dog bite was the primary source of infection, 96 per cent hydrophobia patients were exposed to a rabid dog. Adult patients were bitten mostly in lower extremities whereas child patients were bitten in upper extremities and highly sensitive areas like head, neck and finger tips.