Hensley J A
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Public Health Rep. 1998 May-Jun;113(3):258-62.
Although records of animal bites and scratches are kept at most local health departments, little is known about the epidemiology and characteristics of these potential rabies exposures on a local level. Bite and scratch records for a four-and-a-half-year period from Montgomery County, Virginia, were examined in order to identify preventable trends.
The author retrospectively reviewed animal bite and scratch records from the Montgomery County Health Department dating from January 1992 through July 1996.
Cat bites or scratches involved stray or feral animals more than eight times as often as dog bites or scratches. Cats were involved in the majority of incidents in which rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) was recommended. Overall, PEP was recommended following 5.9% of reported incidents. The records also indicated that 65% of owned cats were unvaccinated at the time of the incident, while only 28% of owned dogs were unvaccinated. Children under the age of 18 were significantly more likely to be involved in a potential exposure than adults.
Potential exposures should be analyzed periodically by local health departments. Suggestions for minimizing the number of potential rabies exposures in Montgomery County based on the results of the study reported here include: reducing the stray and feral cat population, targeting educational programs to children, and encouraging owners to vaccinate their pets.
尽管大多数地方卫生部门都保存着动物咬伤和抓伤记录，但在地方层面上，对于这些潜在狂犬病暴露的流行病学和特征却知之甚少。为了确定可预防的趋势，对弗吉尼亚州蒙哥马利县四年半期间的咬伤和抓伤记录进行了检查。
作者回顾性审查了蒙哥马利县卫生部门1992年1月至1996年7月期间的动物咬伤和抓伤记录。
猫咬伤或抓伤涉及流浪或野生猫科动物的频率比狗咬伤或抓伤高出八倍多。在大多数建议进行狂犬病暴露后预防（PEP）的事件中，涉及的是猫。总体而言，在报告的事件中，有5.9%的事件建议进行PEP。记录还表明，65%的家养猫在事件发生时未接种疫苗，而家养狗未接种疫苗的比例仅为28%。18岁以下的儿童比成年人更有可能卷入潜在暴露事件。
地方卫生部门应定期分析潜在暴露情况。根据本研究结果，为减少蒙哥马利县潜在狂犬病暴露数量提出的建议包括：减少流浪和野生猫科动物数量、针对儿童开展教育项目以及鼓励宠物主人为其宠物接种疫苗。
