Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2001

摘要

During 2001, 49 states and Puerto Rico reported 7,437 cases of rabies in nonhuman animals and 1 case in a human being to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase of < 1% from 7,364 cases in nonhuman animals and 5 human cases reported in 2000. More than 93% (6,939 cases) were in wild animals, whereas 6.7% (497 cases) were in domestic species (compared with 93.0% in wild animals and 6.9% in domestic species in 2000). The number of cases reported in 2001 increased among bats, cats, skunks, rodents/lagomorphs, and swine and decreased among dogs, cattle, foxes, horses/mules, raccoons, and sheep/goats. The relative contributions of the major groups of animals were as follows: raccoons (37.2%; 2,767 cases), skunks (30.7%; 2,282), bats (17.2%; 1,281), foxes (5.9%; 437), cats (3.6%; 270), dogs (1.2%; 89), and cattle (1.1%; 82). Nine of the 19 states where the raccoon-associated variant of the rabies virus has been enzootic reported decreases in the numbers of rabid raccoons during 2001.