Description of human anti-rabies post-exposure prophylaxis care notifications in Brazil, 2014-2019

To analyze human anti-rabies post-exposure prophylaxis notifications in Brazil.

This was a descriptive study using data from the Notifiable Diseases Information System in Brazil, from 2014 to 2019.

A total of 4,033,098 anti-rabies medical consultations were notified, averaging 672,183 a year. Percentage care was higher among males (n = 2,111,369; 52.4%), those under 19 years old (n = 1,423,433; 35.3%), living in urban areas (n = 3,386,589; 88.1%), attacked by dogs (n = 3,281,190; 81.5%) and bitten (n = 3,575,717; 81.9%), mainly on the hands and feet (n = 1,541,201; 35.3%). The most frequent prophylactic procedure was observation plus vaccination (n = 1,736,036; 44.2%). Prophylactic procedure was appropriate in 57.8% (n = 2,169,689) of cases and inappropriate in 42.2% (n = 1,582,411) of cases.

Although there were appropriate prophylactic procedures, we also found procedures that were inappropriate and which, when insufficient, can result in cases of human rabies and, when unnecessary, can result in waste, including shortage of immunobiological products.