China worried by soaring rabies deaths

Sep 28, 2009, 9:20 GMT

   Beijing - Failure to seek treatment due to ignorance of the risks from dog bites has fuelled a worrying surge in deaths from rabies in rural China, state media said on Monday.

   The health ministry said rabies had become 'one of the biggest public health risks facing China' with more than 2,400 deaths annually attributed to the virus, the official China Daily reported.

   The rise in rabies deaths was linked to an increase in the number of dogs, 'poor public awareness' and improved surveillance, the newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.

   About 50 per cent of rural residents were unaware that a rabies infection was normally fatal and only 35 per cent said they would seek medical treatment for an animal bite, according to a health ministry survey.

   China has an estimated 75 million dogs but only about 20 per cent were vaccinated against rabies, said the report, which coincided with Monday's World Rabies Day, co-sponsored by the World Health Organization.

   Rabies kills some 55,000 people worldwide, mostly in Asia and Africa, with only India recording more deaths than China, the ministry said.

   Health officials recorded some 40 million animal bites annually, mostly from dogs, among China's 1.3 billion people.

   Dog bites were most common in heavily populated rural areas of southern China and victims were typically adult males in poor communities, the ministry said.

   It said rabies cases had soared since the ministry recorded only 159 deaths in 1996 following a five-year national vaccination programme.

   In response, authorities in many areas where multiple rabies deaths were reported have ordered controversial culls of dogs and other animals in recent years.

   Officials in Hanzhong city in the north-western province of Shaanxi ordered the culling of more than 40,000 dogs following an outbreak of rabies in May.

   Dogs are commonly kept as pets or guards in many rural areas of China but were banned in cities until recently.

   Some breeds are also popular for their meat in many areas of northern and southern China.