DOG POPULATION STUDIES AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF RABIES IN CAMEROON
DOG POPULATION STUDIES AND EPIDEMIOLOGY OF RABIES IN CAMEROON
No Thumbnail Available
Date
1992-11
Authors
TONG, JOHN CHUO
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The data on dog population studies revealed that many households (70.5%) in
the study area kept dogs, though the reasons for owning dogs differed slightly as
people in Bamenda kept dogs mainly as guards (80.8%), while dogs in Wum were
mostly used for both guarding and hunting (49.7%).
Dissatisfaction for dogs was seen in 32.6% of the households that did not own
dogs while majority of them (64.4%) said they liked dogs but were either poor or
still planning to acquire one. Only 3% of the households said it was against their
religion/culture to keep dogs. Majority of the dogs in both towns were young with
61.9% between three months to two years and 13.7% less than three months. There
was a large preponderance of local dogs (91.6%) compared to other breeds and
more males (55.0%) than females (43.77c)
Dog owners fed and handled their dogs in 90.8% of the households that
owned dogs and this is an indication that the accessibility of owned dogs for an
antirabies vaccination campaign could be quite high. However, the attitude of dog
owners towards antirabies vaccination of their dogs differed in the two towns
perhaps because of the difference in their socio-economic status. About 68.2% of
the households that owned dogs in Bamenda had vaccinated their dogs against
rabies, while in Wum, 57.8% of the households complained of poverty, ignorance of
vaccination and other reasons.
Households acquired their dogs from several sources with 57.9% of those that
owned dogs acquiring them through purchase. Puppies delivered by owned dogs
had a high survival rate although the rate was higher for dogs in Bamenda (78.1%)
than in Wum (09.2%). Although a stray dog count was not done, Bamenda
appeared to have more unowned or stray dogs than Wum according to the
respondents in these towns.
The attitude of people in both towns towards dogs was good and most people
(94.9%) were aware of rabies and its major mode of transmission. The. overall dogto-
human ratio was 1:8.0 and ranged from 1:6.6 in Bamenda to 1:8.5 in Wum. The
average number of dogs per household in all the sampled households was 1.2 with a
range of 1.1 in Bamenda to 1.3 in Wum. The prevalence of previous dog bites was
higher in Bamenda (29.4%) than in Wum (14.1%). Dog ownership was more
common among civil servants (36.1%) and farmers {25.07c) compared to
businessmen (22.8%), technicians (8.2%) and others (7.9%). The use of dogs as
guards ranked highest (56.3%) amongst reasons for keeping dogs, while poverty
(37.9%;) and hatred for dogs (32.6%) were the major reasons for not owning dogs
The data on rabies revealed that canine rabies cases were increasing (37 to 42),
while the numbers pets vaccinated against rabies each year was decreasing (15,941
to 10,123) from 1985/86 to 1989/90. The distribution of the number of confirmed
rabies cases in dogs, the number of biting dogs observed for rabies, the number of
biting dogs that died during observation and the number of antirabies vaccination
varied from one Province to another and within the Provinces. Provinces with more
rural inhabitants had low rabies and antirabies vaccination activities, while those
with majority of inhabitants in urban areas had high activities.
However, the rabies situation was different for human beings as more deaths
due to rabies were seen in Provinces with a majority of rural population. Canine
and human rabies cases were reported every year in Cameroon with an average of
36.8 confirmed cases in dogs and 22.4 deaths due to rabies in human beings each
year. A total of 435 rabies cases were reported in the country, 278 (63.9%) of them
in dogs and 157 (36.1%) in human beings. The ratio of dog-to-human rabies was
1:0.6 but ranged from 1:0.1 to 1:3.3 throughout the period under study. The
difference between canine and human rabies cases was, however, not significant (p
> 0.05).
Description
A thesis submitted to the Post Graduate School
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria,
in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
in Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine
Department of Veterinary Public Health
and Preventive Medicine,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria.
November, 1992.
Keywords
DOG POPULATION,, EPIDEMIOLOGY,, RABIES,, CAMEROON