Bovine rabies incidence in the state of Minas Gerais/Brazil, between 2002 and 2006

Rabies is an infectious contagious disease of mammals present in all continents except Oceania. It is caused by a Lyssavirus and characterized by acute fatal encephalitis. It is considered endemic in Brazil and transmission to herbivores occurs mainly via vampire bats. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence of bovine rabies in the state of Minas Gerais, as well as the diagnostic methods, applying the time series to analyze trend and seasonality in order to adjust a model to disease in cattle. Between 2002 and 2006, nervous tissue samples were obtained from deceased bovines presenting neurological symptoms and clinically suspected of rabies. The direct fluorescent antibody test (FAT) detected 40.38% (1,293/3,202) positive samples. From all FAT negative tissue samples, 2.67% (51/1,909) tested positive in a mouse inoculation test (MIT). No seasonality was observed and positive cases had a decrease of 0.14 per month