Epidemiological characteristics of rabies post - exposure prophylaxis in highland region of Vietnam, from 2016 to 2020

Abstract

Our retrospective cross - sectional study, using datas of 63,363 patients receiving rabies post - exposure prophylaxis in National Program of Control and Removing Rabies, aimed to describe epidemiology of rabies prophylaxis in Highland region of Vietnam from 2016 to 2020. The study showed that the number of
prophylactic cases was highest in 2018 then decreased. Reported cases accelerated from March to August. Age of under-15 and 25 - 49 account for 31.5% and 35.6%. Dog was the major animal exposing human to rabies (91.3%), nearly 80% of infected animals did not show any sign of rabies attack. Most people (88.9%) were aware of early post - exposure
prophylaxis. Our study reported 94.9% of patients had level II and level III wounds. Health communication and education need promoting in order to reduce exposure rate, especially age of under-15, to sustain and increase the rate of early post - exposure prophylaxis.