Volume 17, Number 12—December 2011
Letter
Bat Rabies and Human Postexposure Prophylaxis, New York, USA
Millicent Eidson
, Yoichiro Hagiwara, Robert J. Rudd, and Louise-Anne McNutt
, Yoichiro Hagiwara, Robert J. Rudd, and Louise-Anne McNutt
Table
Bat-associated rabies exposure incidents, PEP, and bats received for testing, New York, USA, 1993–2002*
| 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total incidents† | 137 (100.0) | 116 (100.0) | 290 (100.0) | 527 (100.0) | 672 (100.0) | 764 (100.0) | 964 (100.0) | 924 (100.0) | 973 (100.0) | 953 (100.0) | 6,320 (100.0) |
| Bats tested† | 42 (30.7) | 43 (37.1) | 57 (19.7) | 111 (21.1) | 111 (16.5) | 116 (15.2) | 112 (11.6) | 110 (11.9) | 113 (11.6) | 124 (13.0) | 939 (14.9) |
| Bats not tested | 95 (69.3) | 73 (62.9) | 233 (80.3) | 416 (78.9) | 561 (83.5) | 648 (84.8) | 852 (88.4) | 814 (88.1) | 860 (88.4) | 829 (87.0) | 5,381 (85.1) |
| Total PEP | 184 | 131 | 440 | 968 | 1,326 | 1,512 | 1,755 | 1,641 | 1,735 | 1,673 | 11,365 |
| Average/incident | 1.3 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 |
| Bat rabies status | |||||||||||
| Positive† | 49 (26.6) | 17 (13.0) | 34 (7.7) | 74 (7.6) | 88 (6.6) | 111 (7.3) | 110 (6.3) | 110 (6.7) | 99 (5.7) | 98 (5.9) | 790 (7.0) |
| Negative | 6 (3.3) | 24 (18.3) | 17 (3.9) | 37 (3.8) | 36 (2.7) | 33 (2.2) | 22 (1.3) | 32 (2.0) | 21 (1.2) | 23 (1.4) | 251 (2.2) |
| Untestable | 18 (9.8) | 10 (7.6) | 34 (7.7) | 110 (11.4) | 89 (6.7) | 69 (4.6) | 74 (4.2) | 76 (4.6) | 114 (6.6) | 115 (6.9) | 709 (6.2) |
| Not tested | 111 (60.3) | 80 (61.1) | 355 (80.7) | 747 (77.2) | 1,113 (83.9) | 1,299 (85.9) | 1,549 (88.3) | 1,423 (86.7) | 1,501 (86.5) | 1,437 (85.9) | 9,615 (84.6) |
| Bat exposure type | |||||||||||
| Bite† | 43 (23.4) | 71 (54.2) | 124 (28.2) | 160 (16.5) | 188 (14.2) | 134 (8.9) | 186 (10.6) | 163 (9.9) | 150 (8.6) | 145 (8.7) | 1,364 (12.0) |
| Scratch or saliva contact | 73 (39.7) | 50 (38.2) | 102 (23.2) | 259 (26.8) | 429 (32.4) | 168 (11.1) | 147 (8.4) | 131 (8.0) | 152 (8.8) | 126 (7.5) | 1,637 (14.4) |
| Reasonable probability | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 1,145 (75.7) | 1,365 (77.8) | 1,299 (79.2) | 1,382 (79.7) | 1,367 (81.7) | 6,558 (57.7) |
| Other | 68 (37.0) | 10 (7.6) | 214 (48.6) | 549 (56.7) | 709 (53.5) | 65 (4.3) | 57 (3.2) | 48 (2.9) | 51 (2.9) | 35 (2.1) | 1,806 (15.9) |
| Bats received for rabies testing | |||||||||||
| Total | 420 (100.0) | 419 (100.0) | 386 (100.0) | 764 (100.0) | 741 (100.0) | 868 (100.0) | 923 (100.0) | 1,220 (100.0) | 1,421 (100.0) | 1,487 (100.0) | 8,649 (100.0) |
| By bat rabies status | |||||||||||
| Positive‡ | 20 (4.8) | 17 (4.1) | 19 (4.9) | 23 (3.0) | 28 (3.8) | 38 (4.4) | 34 (3.7) | 36 (3.0) | 45 (3.2) | 34 (2.3) | 294 (3.4) |
| Negative | 342 (81.4) | 375 (89.5) | 315 (81.6) | 653 (85.5) | 667 (90.0) | 769 (88.6) | 833 (90.2) | 1,112 (91.1) | 1,300 (91.5) | 1,363 (91.7) | 7,729 (89.4) |
| Untestable | 58 (13.8) | 27 (6.4) | 52 (13.5) | 88 (11.5) | 46 (6.2) | 61 (7.0) | 56 (6.1) | 72 (5.9) | 76 (5.3) | 90 (6.1) | 626 (7.2) |
| By exposure type | |||||||||||
| Bite† | 77 (18.3) | 106 (25.3) | 103 (26.7) | 118 (15.4) | 98 (13.2) | 139 (16.0) | 141 (15.3) | 131 (10.7) | 131 (9.2) | 148 (10.0) | 1,192 (13.8) |
| Nonbite§ | 343 (81.7) | 313 (74.7) | 283 (73.3) | 646 (84.6) | 643 (86.8) | 729 (84.0) | 782 (84.7) | 1,089 (89.3) | 1,290 (90.8) | 1,339 (90.0) | 7,457 (86.2) |
*PEP, human rabies postexposure prophylaxis; NA, data not collected for this time period.
†Test for trend, p<0.0001.
‡Test for trend, p<0.005.
§Includes scratch, saliva, and reasonable probability.
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