Study on the subjects received postexposure rabies vaccination in our vaccine clinic

Since 1957 no case of rabies has been reported in Japan except for one imported rabies case diagnosed in 1970. There are many regions in the world, however, where animal rabies remains epizootic and human rabies cases also occur. Statistical examination was performed on the 29 subjects who visited our vaccine clinic to receive postexposure rabies vaccination because they had been bitten by suspected rabid animals abroad. The region where the most subjects were bitten was Thailand, the site where the most vaccinees were injured was in the lower extremity, and the animal which bit the most subjects were stray or domestic dogs. The number of subjects who received postexposure treatment at the local medical institutions were nearly equal to the subjects who did not receive the anti-rabies treatment. However, 76% of subjects who were bitten in Asia and Africa were vaccinated against rabies or given a dose of rabies immune globulin. It is reasonably expected that more Japanese people will be injured by possible rabid animals on abroad, and that imported rabies case will appear in Japan, because the number of Japanese going abroad is growing larger and larger. Therefore, the Japanese medical facilities for rabies postexposure treatment and imported rabies cases should be ameliorated and increased in number.