Rabies in Oyo State, Nigeria; 1971-1982.

Epidemiologic data gathered from recorded sources in Oyo State, Nigeria, indicates that people are at 2.1 times greater risk there than in Africa generally and 56 times greater than in the United States of America of dying from rabies. Women older than 30 years of age comprised 45% (5/12) of the analyzable rabies cases from 1971 to 1979. Two of these 12 cases were contracted from cat bites and both of these cases were women. The reason for the high rate of rabies in Women (7/12), especially older women, is not known although this may relate to their socio-economic role in this part of Nigeria. Nor is it understood why women are more likely to be bitten by rabid cats. Eighty-seven percent of rabid animals were dogs. Males were at greater wisk of being bitten by an animal than were females at a ratio of 1.8 to 1, but 57% of male and 49% of female bite victims were 14 years of age or lress. Women 35-39 years old were bitten more frequently than would be expected from the dminishing rate displayed with increasing age, and this may explain, at least partially, their involvement in fatal rabies. There were an average of 45 to 50 cases of animal bites reported in Oyo State each month from January 1978 through December 1981, and a drastic rise was seen in January through April of 1980. There was not a parallel increase in human rabies during this 4 month period, however. A wildlife reservoir for rabies was not evident from the Oyo State data and it must be presumed that dogs are the maintenance reservoir for the virus. Questionnaire surveys were not useful during this study, but personal interview and trace-back efforts to gather information were valuable. These latter efforts suggest that rabies is more prevalent than existing records indicate, probably by a factor ranging from 2 to 6 or more. Rabies control in Oyo State will require recording and systematic reporting of human and animal cases to develop meningful programs. These all in turn revolve around the societal recognition and determination to cope with the problem.