RACCOON RABIES IN THE MID-ATLANTIC (EPIDEMIC) AND SOUTHEASTERN STATES(ENDEMIC), 1970-1986 - AN EVALUATION OF REPORTING METHODS

This study evaluates the current method of rabies reporting in the Uni ted States to assess its ability to reflect temporal trends of animal rabies transmission as epidemiologic patterns change. Currently, the C enters for Disease Control and Prevention report only the numbers of a nimals confirmed rabid in each state. The reported data from three sta tes that experienced a raccoon rabies epidemic and three states that h ad experienced endemic raccoon rabies from 1970 to 1986 were analyzed by calculating the percent of animals that tested positive for rabies from state records and plotting them, using modified smoothing splines . These data were compared with the number of animals that tested posi tive for rabies. The findings indicated that the reported numbers of p ositive animals by themselves should not be used to assess changes in rabies frequency. The percent rabies positive of the total tested was more reflective of temporal changes of rabies occurrence in the popula tion and of the known patterns of rabies transmission between raccoons and other terrestrial species. Reporting the percent positive of thos e examined for rabies requires not collecting new data, but rather the reporting of total number of animals tested, and a simple calculation of information reported.