Recent Research Highlights - November 2014

Recent Research Papers

 

Here we aim to list recent research papers most relevant to GARC’s mission.

 

 

General reviews

Rabies control and elimination: a test case for One Health.
One Health approaches have successfully controlled rabies in different parts of the world. Integrated strategies are needed to enhance the cost effectiveness of measures to control and eliminate rabies, particularly in low-income countries.
Human rabies deaths in Africa: breaking the cycle of indifference.
Rabies victims die because of neglect and ignorance, because they are not aware of these life-saving biologicals, or because they cannot access them or do not have the money to pay for them. Breaking the cycle of indifference of rabies deaths in humans in Africa should be a priority of governments, international organizations and all stakeholders.
Infectious Disease. Implementing Pasteur's vision for rabies elimination.
Increasing evidence shows that global canine rabies elimination is a feasible goal, but it will take intersectoral collaboration, political will and funding to make this a reality.

 

Mass Dog Vaccination

Achieving population-level immunity to rabies in free-roaming dogs in Africa and Asia.
The vast majority of freer-roaming dogs studied in South Africa and Indonesia seroconverted but with considerable variation in titres, partly attributable to illness and lactation. Attaining >70% coverage in these settings is feasible, but attrition of immune individuals necessitates repeat vaccination of populations within at least two years to ensure community protection from rabies.
A one health framework for the evaluation of rabies control programmes: a case study from Colombo City, Sri lanka.
A One Health framework is used to assess the value of rabies interventions in Colombo City, Sri Lanka. The methods include utilize, epidemiological, economic, animal welfare, societal and ethical measure to assess the impacts of a change in rabies control practices.

 

Human Post Exposure Prophylaxis

The Abbreviated intramuscular Schedules for Rabies Vaccination: Zagreb regimen.
Compared to the Essen regimen for intramuscular administration of Post exposure prophylaxis, the Zagreb regimen has higher compliance, lower medical cost and better immunogenicity at an early stage.

Rabies Postexposure Consultations in New Zealand from 1998 to 2012.
Few returning travelers had had pre-travel immunization, and only 20.3% of them had received WHO-advised postexposure management whilst abroad. Thus, 79.7% of the cohort theoretically remained at risk for contracting rabies because of inappropriate management following possible exposure to the disease.
Human Rabies Post-Exposure Prophylaxis and Animal Rabies in Ontario, Canada, 2001-2012.
Rabies cases in animals decreased from 2001 to 2012, but the expected concomitant decrease in the number of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (RPEP) administered failed to occur. Recent guidelines could be revised to more effectively target high-risk exposures and reduce RPEP use where the risk of rabies virus exposure is exceedingly low.

 

Wildlife Rabies

Rabies and rabies virus in wildlife in mainland China, 1990-2013.
All wildlife-originated RABVs were found to belong to genotype 1 RABV except for a bat-originated Irkut virus isolated in 2012. Chinese ferret badger, and raccoon dog isolates were distinct from local dog-originated RABVs, and suggest the possibility of wildlife reservoirs in mainland China through the ages.

 

Surveillance

Twelve years of rabies surveillance in Sri Lanka, 1999-2010.
The number of rabid dogs has remained relatively unchanged, but the number of suspect human rabies is decreasing, indicating successful use of free PEP and increased rabies awareness. Transportation of samples to laboratories is limiting effective surveillance and better rabies surveillance will require the introduction of molecular methods and the establishment of more regional rabies diagnostic laboratories.
Comparison of biotinylated monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies in an evaluation of a direct rapid immunohistochemical test for the routine diagnosis of rabies in southern Africa.
A comparison of the dRIT protocol using biotinylated polyclonal antibody (PAb) preparation and the classical two monoclonal antibodies. Whilst the PAb dRIT had a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 100%, marginally higher than that obtained in the Direct Fluorescent Antibody test, the classical dRIT produced false negative results on samples with mongoose RABV variants. Antibody preparation should be optimized for the geographical area of focus.