Collaborative control efforts in Uganda

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Rabies in Uganda is still a problem that affects people every year, infection usually occurring after a dog bite. As only a few people are able to pay for the treatment (available in Rwanda or Kenya for US$200), most of them die after terrible suffering. Rabies does not only affect people, but also Ugandan livestock and wildlife (lions and jackals or mountain gorillas, for example).

In January and February 2011, a cooperative project was carried out in West Uganda, for the second time. The project was started last year by Dr. Jesus Muro, a veterinary officer in the Andorran Government. This time three other veterinarians, Dr. Ignasi Marco, Dr. Javier Millán and Dr. Andrea Chirife, from Servei d'Ecopatologia de Fauna Salvatge (SEFaS), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and a veterinary student, Victòria Ticó, also took part. SEFaS is a wildlife diseases research group from Spain. The 2011 project also involved people from local organizations such as Conservation Through Public Health and M'Gahinga Community Development Organization, and was addressed to stockbreeders next to three protected areas: the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, the Queen Elizabeth National Park (QENP) and the M'Gahinga National Park.

 

Conservation Through Public Health (CTPH) is an NGO that promotes gorilla conservation by enabling people, wildlife and livestock to coexist through improving their primary health care in and around Africa’s protected areas. CTPH provides veterinary services and builds capacity of the government and local communities, including the community animal health workers. M’Gahinga Community Development Organisation (MCDO) is an umbrella group comprising several groups, associations and educational facilities, united by a common goal of improving the lives of the people in M’Gahinga. MCDO supports the development of sustainable projects that result in an harmonious and positive coexistence between the M’Gahinga community and their surrounding environments. That will benefit the community economically and will preserve local environments and species. Thanks to funds from the Andorra Cooperació program, Dr. Jesus Muro was also able to get back in Uganda this year.

The project included rabies vaccination of dogs older than 3 months. The vaccines were donated by Laboratorios Ovejero, León, Spain, by Prosan Lleida, Spain and Intervet-ScheringPlough. In total, there were 25 vaccinated dogs in QENP, 157 in Bwindi and 32 in Kisoro, next to the M'Gahinga Park. Unfortunately, the total population size in these areas is unknown. As rabies is transmitted by biting, the project tries to reduce aggressiveness in dogs by sterilization in both sexes. The pre-scrotal technique was performed in males, and the ovariohisterectomy technique in females.  A total of 35 animals were spayed. The dogs' welfare was also improved by deworming them with an oral dose of praziquantel (244 animals) and a subcutaneous dose of ivermectin. The dogs were identified with red vinyl collars, in the way that Global Alliance for Rabies Control advises in their Blueprint. This allows them to be seen from more than 30 meters and makes it easier to count them.

The vaccine guidelines advise that dogs older than 3 months old must be vaccinated, then revaccinated one year later and again three years later. That could be enough with the estimated maximum life expectancy (five years old) estimated for those dogs. This vaccination campaign was located in the same area as in 2010 and serum samples were taken to know the immunological status of previously vaccinated dogs.  In 2012, serum samples will also be taken to know the status of the dogs vaccinated in this campaign.

Rabies is still a problem, but prophylactic vaccination is feasible and it is the best way to fight it. By promoting vaccination programs and educating people about this disease we can reduce rabies. But the only way of making this possible is by getting funds, donations and, most important, with people actively involved and mobilized to do the field work.

Submitted by Dr. Jesus Muro, DVM Msc, from the Andorran Government.