The Epidemiology of Rabies in Machakos District, Kenya

Kenya has experienced several rabies outbreaks since the first rabies case was confirmed in a dog in the outskirts of Nairobi in 1912 (Hudson, 1944). Dog vaccinations, started in the late 1950s in conjunction with dog movement restrictions, appeared to have effectively controlled the disease so that by the early 1970s it was virtually eliminated in most parts of the country (Kariuki and Ngulo, 1985). However, between 1974 and the early 1980s, rabies had spread to most parts of the country including those areas which had previously been declared rabies-free (Kariuki and Ngulo, 1985; Kariuki, 1988).