The Incidence of Jackal Bites and Injuries in The Zagreb Anti Rabies Clinic During the 1995-2014 Period

Rabies is a zoonotic disease (a disease transmitted to humans from animals) that is caused by a virus. The disease affects domestic and wild animals, and is spread to people through close contact with infectious material, usually saliva, via bites or scratches. Rabies is present on all continents with the exception of Antarctica, but more than 95% of human deaths occur in Asia and Africa. Once the symptoms of the disease have developed, rabies is nearly always fatal. People are usually infected following deep bite or scratch by an infected animal. Dogs are the main host and transmitter of rabies. They are the source of infection in all of the estimated 55 000 human rabies deaths annually in Asia and Africa. Bats are the source of most human rabies deaths in the Americas. Bat rabies has also recently emerged as a public health threat in Australia and Western Europe. Human deaths following exposure to foxes, raccoons, skunks, jackals, mongooses and other wild carnivore host species are very rare. In the Zagreb Anti Rabies Clinic, from 1995 to 2014, there were 18,094 patients bitten by various animals, but only 2 cases were caused by jackals. One was imported (from France), and the other was from Croatia. The incidence of jackal injuries during the observed period was extremely low, accounting for 0.011% of all animals. When the imported case is excluded, the incidence was 0.0055%. Accordingly, it is concluded that jackal bites and injuries are exceptionally low and that they pose no risk for patients who present routinely to the Zagreb Anti Rabies Clinic. Therefore, it is justified that jackal as an animal species be classified in the group of ‘other animals’, when officially reported