Rabies: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives

A special issue of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (ISSN 2414-6366). This special issue belongs to the section "Neglected and Emerging Tropical Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 2652

Special Issue Editors

Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Hokkaido 078-8510, Japan
Interests: global health; infectious disease epidemiology; occupational health; rabies; universal health coverage

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka
Interests: child development; community medicine; pediatrics; rabies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rabies causes about 59,000 annual deaths with more than 15 million human exposures worldwide, mostly in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. An international community now calls for the worldwide canine rabies-free by 2030 (Zero by 30), which indicates no indigenously acquired dog-mediated rabies cases among humans to be achieved by the year 2030. To meet its goal, we should scale up the use of existing vaccines, medicines, and other scientifically proven interventional tools effectively, and then effective anti-rabies policies, guidance and governance need to be implemented throughout the country with reliable surveillance data to enable effective decision-making. Multisectoral collaborations are also essential under the framework of One Health to tackle rabies. Many need to be done towards elimination, but we should monitor, evaluate, and show the progress of elimination activities periodically and enhance them accordingly. Therefore, we would like to collect the papers on the current knowledge and advancement of rabies control and prevention at local, municipal, and/or national levels, and provide effective recommendations and future perspectives on the forthcoming elimination in this Special Issue.

Dr. Koji Kanda
Prof. Ananda Jayasinghe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • elimination
  • intervention
  • one health
  • political commitment
  • post-exposure prophylaxis
  • prevention
  • rabies
  • surveillance
  • vaccination
  • zero by 30

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

18 pages, 5943 KiB  
Article
Rabies Realities: Navigating Barriers to Rabies Control in Rural Zambia—A Case Study of Manyinga and Mwansabombwe Districts
by Muma Chipo Misapa, Eugene C. Bwalya, Ladslav Moonga, Josiah Zimba, Emmanuel S. Kabwali, Mwenya Silombe, Edgar Chilanzi Mulwanda, Christopher Mulenga, Martin C. Simuunza, Hirofumi Sawa, Bernard Hang’ombe and Walter Muleya
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2024, 9(7), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed9070161 - 18 Jul 2024
Viewed by 352
Abstract
Rabies persists as a longstanding issue in Zambia, despite being preventable. The current control measures, including dog vaccination, population control, and movement restriction, guided by ‘The Control of Dogs Act Chapter 247 of the Laws of Zambia’, have not yielded the desired impact [...] Read more.
Rabies persists as a longstanding issue in Zambia, despite being preventable. The current control measures, including dog vaccination, population control, and movement restriction, guided by ‘The Control of Dogs Act Chapter 247 of the Laws of Zambia’, have not yielded the desired impact in many areas of the country including Manyinga and Mwansabombwe districts. These two districts continue to report low dog vaccination rates, unrestricted dog movements, and escalating cases of animal and human rabies, along with dog bites. Aligned with global aspirations to achieve zero human rabies cases by 2030, this study scrutinizes the determinants and obstacles hampering the execution of rabies control initiatives in Manyinga and Mwansabombwe. Spanning approximately 11 months, this cross-sectional study gathered pre- and post-vaccination data from 301 households in Manyinga and 100 households in Mwansabombwe. Questionnaires probed knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to rabies prevention and control. A transect survey, key informant interviews, and assessment of rabies vaccination and dog bite records complemented the data collection. Findings revealed that 88.0% of respondents from both districts possessed knowledge about rabies, confirming affected species and transmission. Moreover, 76.8% in Manyinga and 88.6% in Mwansabombwe were acquainted with rabies prevention and control methods. Concerning dog owners, 89.0% were aware of rabies, 66.0% understood its prevention and control, and the majority identified bites as the primary mode of transmission. Despite the high level of knowledge recorded during the survey, the implementation of preventive measures was low, which was attributed to low levels of law enforcement by the local government authority, inadequate staffing in the veterinary department, unwillingness to pay for dog vaccinations, and unavailability of rabies vaccine at the veterinary office in both districts. Vaccination coverage stood at 64.0% in Manyinga and 21.0% in Mwansabombwe. Notably, education and occupation exhibited a positive significant association with rabies knowledge. In terms of dog bite cases, Manyinga recorded 538 dog bite cases from 2017 to June 2022, while Mwansabombwe recorded 81 dog bite and 23 jackal bite cases from 2021 to June 2022. The study underscores critical knowledge gaps in rural areas and emphasizes the imperative for enhanced public education and awareness programs, improved rabies surveillance, free mass vaccination campaigns, and community engagement to augment vaccination coverage and knowledge about rabies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rabies: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives)
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2386 KiB  
Article
The Use of Dog Collars Offers Significant Benefits to Rabies Vaccination Campaigns: The Case of Zanzibar, Tanzania
by Khadija N. Omar, Andre Coetzer, Maulid Hamdu, Ayla J. Malan, Ali Z. Moh’d, Talib S. Suleiman and Louis H. Nel
Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2023, 8(8), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed8080421 - 21 Aug 2023
Viewed by 1795
Abstract
Tools and resources that could increase dog vaccination coverage have become increasingly critical towards progressing the goal to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030. In this regard, dog collars that are fitted during vaccination campaigns could potentially enhance owner participation. The use of [...] Read more.
Tools and resources that could increase dog vaccination coverage have become increasingly critical towards progressing the goal to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies by 2030. In this regard, dog collars that are fitted during vaccination campaigns could potentially enhance owner participation. The use of dog collars will, however, increase the cost per dog vaccinated and the impact and benefit of this practice should be elucidated. This study evaluated the impact of dog collars by testing the perception and related behavioural influences in communities in Zanzibar. In this cross-sectional investigation—conducted approximately two months after the implementation of a mass dog vaccination (MDV) where dog collars were provided to vaccinated dogs—data were collected from 600 respondents in 56 municipal wards in Zanzibar. Descriptive analyses and logistic regressions were undertaken to determine the impact the collars had on respondents with regards to (i) engaging with the community dogs, (ii) health seeking behaviour after exposure, and (iii) overall participation during dog vaccination campaigns. From the data, it was evident that the collars had a positive impact on the community’s perception of dogs, with 57% of the respondents feeling safer around a dog with a collar, while 66% of the respondents felt less safe around a dog without a collar. Furthermore, the collars had a positive impact on participation during dog vaccination campaigns. Of the 142 respondents who owned dogs, 64% reported that the collars made them more likely to take their dogs for vaccination, and 95% felt that the collar was an important sign of the dog’s vaccination status. This study demonstrated that dog collars could not only improve participation during dog vaccination campaigns, but that they could also play a significant role in the community’s perception of rabies vaccination campaigns and vaccinated dogs in general. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Rabies: Current Knowledge and Future Perspectives)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop