Deaths from symptomatically identifiable furious rabies in India: a nationally representative mortality survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

It is estimated that India has more deaths from rabies than any other country. However, existing estimates are indirect and rely on non-representative studies.

Methods and principal findings

We examined rabies deaths in the ongoing Million Death Study (MDS), a representative survey of over 122,000 deaths in India that uses enhanced types of verbal autopsy. We estimated the age-specific mortality rates of symptomatically identifiable furious rabies and its geographic and demographic distributions. A total of 140 deaths in our sample were caused by rabies, suggesting that in 2005 there were 12,700 (99% CI 10,000 to 15,500) symptomatically identifiable furious rabies deaths in India. Most rabies deaths were in males (62%), in rural areas (91%), and in children below

SUBMITTER: Suraweera W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3464588 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature