Northwestern São Paulo State- Brazil Epidemiologia da raiva canina na região de Araçatuba, Noroeste

Epidemiological characteristics of canine rabies in the northwest region of São Paulo State (Araçatuba region), Brazil, from 1993 to 1997 are presented. Out of 1,984 dogs, a total of 351 (17.7%) were positive for rabies diagnosis; 89 % (312/ 351) of these occurred in urban areas and 85 % (266/312) of the urban positive cases were among owned dogs. The mean age of the rabid dogs was 34 months and 61 % were male. Aggressive behavior was observed in 77 % of rabid dogs, followed by lack of coordination and paralysis (42%) and 48 % of these dogs were responsible biting people or other animals. Information about vaccination status was obtained from 182 records and 51 % of rabid dogs were non-vaccinated. The number of unvaccinated rabid dogs indicates a low vaccination index and this factor added to the high dog/man ratio must have contributed to the canine rabies epizootic observed in the studied area