Spatio‐temporal investigation of reported cases of animal rabies in Ghana from 2010 to 2017

BACKGROUND: Rabies is a zoonotic disease transmitted mainly by animals, especially dogs. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article was to examine reported cases of animal rabies in Ghana for trends to provide information that could be helpful to control the disease. METHOD: Retrospective analyses of reported cases of rabies in Ghana from 2010 to 2017. RESULTS: In all, 328 rabies cases were recorded in animals in the period under review. The predominant species involved were dogs (299; 91.2%) and cats (12; 3.7%). Other species included pigs (4; 1.2%), goats (4; 1.2%), monkeys (4; 1.2%), sheep (2; 0.6%), bats (2; 0.6%) and cattle (1; 0.3%). The numbers of reported cases in animals were markedly higher than those in humans except in 2013 and 2017. There was a positive but weak correlation between cases in animals and humans which could be due to lack of reporting collaboration between institutions responsible for these. Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions were identified as hotspots in the period under review, while January and August were the months with the highest peaks for cases reported. Cases reported in rainy season were significantly higher than those in dry season. Poisson regression for spatio‐temporal analyses showed no statistical significance in predicting number of rabies cases (response variable) from year, month, season, region and affected species (predictor variables). CONCLUSION: Rabies remained endemic in Ghana during 2010–2017 with cases reported in nearly every month of the year during this period. There was a significant seasonal pattern with higher proportion of cases reported in the rainy/wet season compared to the dry season.