Rabies monitoring in the Czech republic

Rabies is a serious viral disease affecting the nervous system. Rabies has not been present in the Czech Republic since 2002, but monitoring is still ongoing. The aim of the bachelor thesis was to evaluate the monitoring of rabies in our territory, the number of people bitten by a dog and to assess people's awareness of this disease through a questionnaire survey. In the monitored period 2004-2019, a total of 88,943 animals were examined for rabies. The most frequently examined species was the common fox (90 %). The smallest share (0,3 %) was formed by bats. A survey of the number of people bitten by a dog revealed that in the observed period 2010-2018, more than one million people in our territory were bitten by a dog. In total, 231 respondents took part in the questionnaire survey. Most of them (79 %) knew what rabies was, what the typical clinical symptoms were (90 %) and also that the main routes of infection were biting (99 %) or scratching (97 %) by a sick animal. Although people seem to be sufficiently aware of rabies, there is a need to raise awareness about this dangerous disease