Background and Goals: There are two types of animal rabies, which are endemic in Nepal. There are still a lot of rabies cases reported to the reference veterinary laboratory in Nepal, despite the fact that both governmental and non-governmental organizations are trying to prevent the disease through mass dog vaccination and stray dog population management. In order to evaluate the animal species, temporal, regional, and agro-ecological distribution patterns of animal rabies in Nepal between 2005 and 2017, this study was conducted.
Materials and Methods: The Central Veterinary Laboratory in Tripureshwor, Kathmandu, Nepal, provided the epidemiological data on animal rabies from 2005 to 2017. Animal species, time, geography (developmental zones), and agro-ecological distributions were taken into consideration while analyzing the laboratory-confirmed rabies cases. Additionally, the distribution patterns of rabies were assessed using descriptive statistics.
Results: The Central Veterinary Hospital in Kathmandu received reports of 2771 probable rabies cases in animals between 2005 and 2017 of which 1302 instances with laboratory confirmation were discovered. Dogs were the most often reported and confirmed rabies cases, followed by other household animals. The period from 2005 to 2007 saw the highest number of incidents. However, 2016 and 2017 saw an increase in the occurrence. At the regional level, the eastern development zone had the most rabies cases, while the central zone had the fewest. Similarly, at agro-ecological zones, it was lowest in mountainous regions and highest in the Terai (plain) region. The results also showed that there were significant seasonal differences in rabies incidence.
Conclusion: Rabies is a year-round disease that varies with the seasons in Nepal. Dogs are the most common animal species afflicted with rabies, followed by cattle and other household animals. The central development zone registered the lowest incidence at the regional level, while the eastern development zone had the highest. In a similar vein, across agro-ecological zones, mountainous regions had the lowest overall prevalence rate, while the Terai region had the highest incidence rates. Therefore, in order to reduce the incidence of rabies in the nation, the government should strictly enforce mass dog vaccination and regulate the dog population using a one-health approach. Keywords: animals, epidemiology, Nepal, rabies, agro-ecological zones.
Keywords: animals, epidemiology, Nepal, rabies, agro-ecological zones.
References
Pal, P., Yawongsa, A., Bhatta, R., Shimoda, H., & Rukkwamsuk, T. (2021). Animal rabies epidemiology in Nepal from 2005 to 2017. International Journal of One Health, 7(2), 190–195. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355210712_Animal_rabies_epidemiology_in_Nepal_from_2005_to_2017
Thakur, R., Joshi, S., Chand, R., & Neupane, S. (2023). Unprecedented rabies outbreak in Nepal’s Far Western Region: A call for urgent action. Advance Public Health Briefs.
World Health Organization (2021). Rabies fact sheet. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies
Copyright:
Pal, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. You can view the original case study here: https://www.onehealthjournal.org/Vol.7/No.2/6.html
Disclaimer
This lesson paraphrases and adapts content from the original research by Pal et al. (2021) and Thakur et al. (2023). All rights to the original publications remain with the authors and journals. This material is intended solely for educational and teaching purposes. Any commercial use or reproduction of the original work without permission is prohibited.
