Seventeen people have died of rabies so far this year in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, local police said Monday.

Dogs has become a major annoyance for citizens in Chengdu and local police receive more than 100 calls complaining about dog disturbance every month, a spokesman with the Municipal Public Security Bureau said.

The country reported 2,254 rabies cases in the first nine months this year, 29.69 percent up from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Health.

In September alone there were 393 rabies cases reported nationwide with 318 deaths, up 37 percent from September of last year, and double the number of cases for the whole of 1996.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2006)