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Epidemiology of Rabies in Ghana

  • Conference paper
Book cover Rabies in the Tropics

Summary

Rabies can be said to be inveterate in Ghana. In a rabies survey spanning a period of 13 years (1970 through 1982), it was found that of a total of 18,180 cases of exposed persons, 257 ended fatally. Compared with other comunicable diseases on a national scale, however, human deaths from rabies are not at all striking, yet they are far from insignificant. Rabies has been observed to occur throughout the year, with peak incidence in the dry season, coincident with the breeding season of dogs in Ghana. Of 1,908,848 suspected animals examined, all except one cat and thirteen herbivores were rabid. Rabid dogs, cats and herbivores responsible for human exposures numbered 1,514, the dog being responsible for 98.7%, the cat, 0.07% and cattle, 0.70%. Chiroptera, mustelidae and viverridae have so far not been found infected in nature in Ghana. However, of about 430 rats trapped in the Greater Accra (150) and Ashanti (280) Regions between 1972 and 1974, only seven were found rabid and all from the Ashanti Region. The ecology of wildlife rabies and its relationship to urban (human and domestic animal) rabies as well as other aspects of the epidemiology of rabies in Ghana are discussed.

Head, Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Microbiology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

    P. A. K. Addy (Head)

Authors
  1. P. A. K. Addy
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medical Virology and Immunology, University of Essen, Medical School, Hufelandstraße 55, 4300, Essen 1, Germany

    Ernst Kuwert

  2. Fondation Mérieux, 17 rue Bourgelat, 69002, Lyon, France

    Charles Mérieux

  3. The Wistar Institute, 36th Street at Spruce, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA

    Hilary Koprowski

  4. Veterinary Public Health, Division of Communicable Diseases, World Health Organization, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland

    Konrad Bögel (Chief) (Chief)

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© 1985 Springer-Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg

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Addy, P.A.K. (1985). Epidemiology of Rabies in Ghana. In: Kuwert, E., Mérieux, C., Koprowski, H., Bögel, K. (eds) Rabies in the Tropics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70060-6_65

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70060-6_65

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-13826-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-70060-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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