Objective To analyze epidemic factors of rabies from 2004 to 2008 in Ningbo and to explore the effective control measures.Methods It was investigated for epidemic situation of rabies patients and the density and vaccination of the dogs in villages.There were 110 rabies outpatient clinics selected as sentinel site.Results There were 52 cases of human rabies reported from 2004 to 2008.The average annual incidence rate was 0.16/0.1 million.Fatality rate was 100%.The rabies case distributed at eight counties.Cixi county ranked the first,accounted for 53.85% of all cases.Patients aged from 3 to 80 years and the proportion of farmers was the highest with the value of 46.15%.The main wound exposed section was the upper limbs(67.31%).The Ⅲ degree exposure topped all the wound exposure,accounted for 76.92%.There were 35 cases(67.31%)that were not treated,42 patients(80.77%)not vaccinated and 10 patients not have the full immunization.The exposure people were mainly farmers from rural areas.The outpatients could occur every month.The oldest was 84 years old.The youngest was only 158 days old.The main exposure section was the upper limb and lower limb(68.22%).The main exposure degree was Ⅲ degree(83.05%).The dog density was 42.39 dogs/one hundred houses,the immunization rate of the dogs was 9.62%.Conclusion There were many factors lead to the prevalent of rabies in Ningbo such as high dog density,low immunization rate of dogs,weak prevention awareness among the population and non-standard treatment after exposure.