Abstract

FILGUEIRA, Amâncio da Cruz; CARDOSO, Mirian Domingos  and  FERREIRA, Luiz Oscar Cardoso. Human rabies postexposure prophylaxis: exploratory analysis of treatments in salgueiro, State of Pernambuco, Brazil, 2007. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2011, vol.20, n.2, pp.233-244. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742011000200012.

OBJECTIVE: to describe human rabies postexposure prophylaxis for 511 people attacked by animals that could potentially carry rabies in the Municipality of Salgueiro, State of Pernambuco, in 2007. METHODOLOGY: variables were obtained from human rabies prevention procedures data from the Information System for Notifiable Diseases (Sinan) and were analyzed using Epi Info Program 6.4. RESULTS: tthe most affected group was male adults living in the urban area; dogs and cats were responsible for 88.2% of attacks, and 98.7% of those were healthy during the attack; wounds were deep and were caused by a single bite in hands/feet or in lower limb; the main medical conduct was observation and vaccination; 85.7% of all analyzed people looked for medical help up to five days after the attack. CONCLUSION: the high indication for anti-rabies treatment to patients who had contact with healthy and observed animals suggests lack of knowledge of technical procedures, inappropriate animal surveillance or lack of knowledge of local epidemiological data.

Keywords : rabies; prophylaxis; rabies virus; epidemiological surveillance.

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