Abstract
•Rabies is a zoonotic disease caused by Rabies lyssavirus of the genus Lyssavirus.•Reasons for dog vaccination failures in Tunisia include a lack of adequate strategies that account for the dog ecology and demography information and therefore incorrect planning in both timing and geographic area.•Spatial analysis of rabies cases distribution may play a role in informing and directing public health policy, as well as providing opportunities for authorities to explore control options.•Spatial and temporal analysis of rabies dogs cases in the study area between 2015 and 2019 revealed that roads and irrigated areas can act as ecological corridors to rabies viruses spared. For the first time a significant seasonal variation in the cases of rabies was recorded.•Theses results may play a role in informing and directing public health policy, as well as providing opportunities for authorities to explore control options in time and space.•A better knowledge of the ecology and dog population dynamic is still necessary and it is important to achieve an effective rabies control.
Human rabies is a significant public health concern in Tunisia. However, the spatiotemporal spread pattern of rabies in dogs, the major reservoir and vector, and its determinants are poorly understood. We collected geographic locations and timeline of reported animal rabies cases in the region of CapBon (study area), for the years 2015–2019 and integrated them in Geographical Information System (GIS) approach to explore the spatio-temporal pattern of dog rabies. The results show that roads and irrigated areas can act as ecological corridors to viral spread. Our study showed that there was a significant seasonal variation in the number of cases of rabies recorded, with a strong peak in spring and lower peak in winter and summer. These findings may play a role in updating and directing public health policy, as well as providing opportunities for authorities to explore control options in time and space. A better knowledge of the ecology and dog population dynamics is still necessary and important to achieve an effective rabies control.