Oral rabies vaccination of dogs-Experiences from a field trial in Namibia

PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Aug 22;16(8):e0010422. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0010422. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Abstract

Dog-mediated rabies is responsible for tens of thousands of human deaths annually, and in resource-constrained settings, vaccinating dogs to control the disease at source remains challenging. Currently, rabies elimination efforts rely on mass dog vaccination by the parenteral route. To increase the herd immunity, free-roaming and stray dogs need to be specifically addressed in the vaccination campaigns, with oral rabies vaccination (ORV) of dogs being a possible solution. Using a third-generation vaccine and a standardized egg-flavoured bait, bait uptake and vaccination was assessed under field conditions in Namibia. During this trial, both veterinary staff as well as dog owners expressed their appreciation to this approach of vaccination. Of 1,115 dogs offered a bait, 90% (n = 1,006, 95%CI:91-94) consumed the bait and 72.9% (n = 813, 95%CI:70.2-75.4) of dogs were assessed as being vaccinated by direct observation, while for 11.7% (n = 130, 95%CI:9.9-17.7) the status was recorded as "unkown" and 15.4% (n = 172, 95%CI: 13.4-17.7) were considered as being not vaccinated. Smaller dogs and dogs offered a bait with multiple other dogs had significantly higher vaccination rates, while other factors, e.g. sex, confinement status and time had no influence. The favorable results of this first large-scale field trial further support the strategic integration of ORV into dog rabies control programmes. Given the acceptance of the egg-flavored bait under various settings worldwide, ORV of dogs could become a game-changer in countries, where control strategies using parenteral vaccination alone failed to reach sufficient vaccination coverage in the dog population.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Administration, Oral
  • Animals
  • Dog Diseases* / epidemiology
  • Dog Diseases* / prevention & control
  • Dogs
  • Humans
  • Namibia
  • Rabies Vaccines*
  • Rabies* / epidemiology
  • Rabies* / prevention & control
  • Rabies* / veterinary
  • Vaccination / methods
  • Vaccination / veterinary

Substances

  • Rabies Vaccines

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the German Ministry of Health under the Global Health Protection Program (GHPP, https://ghpp.de/de/projekte/onehealth-namibia/ - grant number ZMVI1 - 2520GHP701) to KD. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.