Disease Control, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Prev Vet Med. 2013 Aug 1;111(1-2):134-8. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2013.03.008. Epub 2013 Apr 13.
Globally, Bangladesh ranks third in the number of human deaths from rabies. Although dogs are the principal known transmitters of rabies and knowledge of dog populations is essential for effective national control and proper planning, dog control programs are scarce in Bangladesh. Our objective was to count dogs in a rural area to understand the dog population of the country. For this purpose we selected six unions of Raipura upazila in Narsingdi district. Dog counting was done by direct observation following accepted guidelines. We determined the mean density of the dog population in Bangladesh to be 14 dog/km(2) (95% CI 3.7, 24) and the human:dog ratio to be 120 (95% CI 55, 184). Our paper contribute to the literature which shows great variation in the human:dog ratio across regions of the developing world. The human:dog ratio depends on the area's human (as well as dog) population, whereas dog density per unit area indicates the true number of dogs. We propose that extrapolating from the human:dog ratios of other regions not be relied upon for estimating dog populations, unless the ratios can be supplemented by actual counts of dogs within the target area.
从全球范围来看，孟加拉国因狂犬病致死的人数排名第三。尽管狗是已知的狂犬病主要传播者，了解狗的数量对于有效的国家控制和适当的规划至关重要，但在孟加拉国，狗的控制项目却很少。我们的目的是统计农村地区的狗的数量，以了解该国的狗群。为此，我们选择了纳萨尔迪区拉伊普拉县的六个联盟。我们按照公认的准则通过直接观察来统计狗的数量。我们确定孟加拉国的狗的平均密度为每平方公里 14 只（95%置信区间为 3.7 至 24），人与狗的比例为 120（95%置信区间为 55 至 184）。我们的论文为文献做出了贡献，表明在发展中国家的不同地区，人与狗的比例存在很大差异。人与狗的比例取决于该地区的人口（包括狗）数量，而单位面积的狗密度则表明狗的实际数量。我们建议，除非可以通过在目标区域内实际统计狗的数量来补充这些比例，否则不应依赖其他地区的人与狗的比例来估计狗的数量。
