Rabies in Saudi Arabia: a need for epidemiological data

Ziad A Memish (1, 2) , Abdullah M. Assiri (1) , Philippe Gautret (3, 4)

1 Saudi Ministry of Health
2 College of Medicine
3 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes
4 IHU Marseille - Institut Hospitalier Universitaire Méditerranée Infection

Rabies is endemic in animals in the Arabian Peninsula. Although Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Peninsula, little has been published about the rabies situation in the country. A total of 11 069 animal bites to humans were reported during 2007-2009, and 40 animals suspected of rabies were examined for rabies infection from 2005 through 2010. Results suggest that animal-related injuries in Saudi Arabia remain a public health problem, with feral dogs accounting for the majority of bites to humans and for the majority of animals found to be rabid. Over the last 10 years, no confirmed human rabies case has been reported. More detailed information about the epidemiology of animal bites and that of animal rabies in Saudi Arabia would be of great interest, notably to provide a basis on which vaccination recommendations could be made for the numerous international travellers visiting the country. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.

Keywords: Rabies; Saudi Arabia; Epidemiology

Domains: Santé publique et épidémiologie

Ziad A Memish, Abdullah M. Assiri, Philippe Gautret. Rabies in Saudi Arabia: a need for epidemiological data. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2015, 34, pp.99-101. ⟨10.1016/j.ijid.2015.03.016⟩. ⟨hal-01213413⟩