Prevalence of Animal Rabies in Southern Province, Sri Lanka: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study.

Abstract

Introduction Rabies is one of the dreaded infectious diseases, which progress into invariably fatal encephalo- -myelitis. Understanding population-wide trends in prevalence of rabies is vital for planning public health approaches for disease prevention and policy making. Hence this study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of animal rabies and its associated factors in Southern Sri Lanka. Methods A cross-sectional survey was done based on data retrieved from the archived patient and laboratory records for the period of January 2021 to December 2023, at the rabies unit in National Hospital, Galle, the sole rabies diagnostic unit in Southern Province. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results A total of 641 brain stem specimens from dogs (Canis familiaris; 54.6%), cats (Felis catus; 41.5%), rabbits (Lepus nigricollis; 0.6%), guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus; 0.2%), cattle (Boss spp.; 0.3%), squirrels (Ratufa macroura; 1.9%) and mongoose (Herpestes smithii; 0.8%), were received during the study period. Among them, 48%, 38% and 41% were confirmed positive for rabies by Seller’s staining and/or direct fluorescent antibody test in year 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively. Most of them were received from Baddegama, Elpitiya and Galle MOH areas in Galle district (71%). The reduction in prevalence of animal rabies from 2021 to 2023 was statistically significant (p <0.05). Majority of the positive cases (84.3%) were of canine in origin and from domesticated animals (50.6%). More than 90% of the positive cases were from the animals which were non-vaccinated or without a vaccination history. However, 1.7% of the positive cases were reported from the vaccinated animals. Conclusions This study highlights the prevalence of rabies in non-vaccinated domestic animals with a substantial percentage in dogs, although it shows a reduction in total number of positive cases with