TY - JOUR T1 - Rabies prevalence and frequency of animal bites in Kerman Province: 1993-2003 TT - موارد هاری انسانی و حیوان گزیدگی در استان کرمان JF - payeshj JO - payeshj VL - 5 IS - 1 UR - http://payeshjournal.ir/article-1-752-en.html Y1 - 2006 SP - 0 EP - 0 KW - Rabies KW - Animal Bites KW - Kerman Province KW - Epidemiology KW - Iran N2 - Objective (s): In order to find out the frequency rates of domestic and wild animal bites as well as the evaluation of the prevalence rates of rabies disease in human population in Kerman Province (South-East of Iran), a retrospective study was designed to analyze data for this project. Methods: Data were collected from March 21st 1993 to March, 21st 2003 in all of the ten cities including the rural areas of the Kerman Province. Results: The mortality of human rabies were 10 persons (8 males and 2 females). Of these half (50%) were bitten by dogs and the others (50%) by foxes. The reported data indicated that animals bit 22860 persons during 11 years. The mean age of the people who were bitten by dogs was 24.80 years (SD= 14.6), while the mean age of the people who were bitten by foxes was 57.25 years (S.D. =1.50). There was a significant difference between the mean ages of these two groups of the people. The most frequency of injured people was reported in the age group of 10-19 years old and the frequency of males (76 %) was more than females (24 %). The most incidence rate of animal bites was reported from Baft region (166 individuals/100000) and the least incidence was from Zarand region (63 cases). About 60% of all persons that were bitten by animals were from rural areas and 40% of them were from urban areas (P<0.05). Among the all people who were bitten by animals, 47% of them were injured through feet, 41 % through hands, 3 % heads and faces and 9 % of them through trunks, cervical regions and other limbs of the body. Conclusion: The role of foxes in the epidemiology of rabies in the province of Kerman seems very important. Since most people in this region of Iran did not seem to be aware of the risk of exposure to the viral infection of rabies through animal bites, the public education is imperative as well as vaccination of animals, specially dogs and cats. M3 ER -