A Perspective of the Epidemiology of Rabies in South Africa, 1998-2019.

Despite the implementation of various control strategies aimed at eliminating canine-mediated rabies, the disease is still endemic in up to 150 countries across the world. Rabies remains endemic to South Africa, with various reservoir species (both wildlife species and domestic dogs) capable of maintaining rabies infection, and the epidemiology of the disease is yet to be adequately defined. As such, this study used surveillance data collected between 1998 and 2019 from the two diagnostic laboratories in the country for a statistical space-time analysis to determine regions where significant disease clusters could occur.