TravelRabNet network and survey

Reliable and up-to-date information on the supplies of rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) around the world is currently not available. This type of information could help travel health advisers to decide whether or not to recommend pre-exposure vaccination to travellers planning to visit rabies endemic countries and to give travellers reliable information about where to seek care in their destination country in case they are exposed to a suspect rabid animal.

In order to overcome this limitation, EuroTravNET (an initiative of the Travel and Tropical Medicine Network of the European Center for Disease Control and the International Society of Travel Medicine) have established TravelRabNet, a network of health-care providers responsible for providing PEP to international travellers in rabies endemic countries.

They have set up an online survey, asking 3 simple questions about clinic locations and the rabies biologicals available in them. Data collection has now started, and the information will be compiled, made freely available on the ISTM website (www.istm.org), and updated every 6 months. Any person working in a clinic that provides PEP in a rabies endemic country is invited to join the network and complete the survey. Feedback will be provided to TravelRabNet network members through a newsletter including a summary of collected data. EuroTravNet will also share data about potential rabies exposures in European international travelers and rabies cases.

There is more information on EuroTravNET, its projects and publications at: www.istm.org/eurotravnet/main.html and the rabies online survey can be found on the page: http://www.istm.org/eurotravnet/specificsurveys.html

Submitted by Dr. Philippe Gautret, MD, PhD who can be contacted at [email protected]