Vaccinate all dogs - even young puppies

A recent research study published in the Veterinary Record shows that puppies younger than 3 months can be effectively vaccinated against rabies in endemic countries. Traditional approaches to mass dog vaccination have usually excluded dogs under 3 months from campaigns due to the potential interference from maternal anti-rabies antibodies still circulating in the puppies’ bloodstreams, preventing a full immune response. However, this research suggests that early vaccination of puppies is both safe and effective, providing strong protection against rabies.

The study, lead by Michele Morters of the University of Cambridge, tested antibody levels in 27 puppies ranging from 10 days to 3 months in the African countries of South Africa and Tanzania. Researchers tested puppies 30 days post-vaccination with a high quality cell culture vaccine, and all 27 subjects had antibody levels above 0.5 IU/ml (an amount considered protective against rabies)  with a with a geometric mean level of 20.7 IU/ml in South Africa and no adverse reactions to vaccination were recorded.

An editorial by Dr. Bernadette Abela-Ridder (from the Department of the Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO) accompanies this article and suggests that these findings could lead to the simplification of vaccination campaigns and an improvement in their effectiveness. The average lifespan of dogs in rabies endemic zones is 3 years or less, and puppies often comprise a significant proportion of community dogs in rural areas (up to 39% in some cases). As a consequence, not vaccinating these puppies can significantly reduce the vaccination coverage of the dog population, and individual puppies may not be vaccinated at all in their lifetime. Field experience shows that the incidence of rabies can be higher in dogs under 12 months, and because puppies are more likely to bite than older dogs, this can lead to an increase of rabies transmission when vaccination of puppies is not completed.

The simpler rule of vaccinating all dogs, including the youngest puppies, therefore, could have a significant impact on rabies transmission rates and the effectiveness of rabies control campaigns.

Summarised by Louise Taylor from Morters et al. Effective vaccination against rabies in puppies in rabies endemic regions and Abela-Ridder et al. Rabies: 100 per cent fatal, 100 per cent preventable, both in the August 8th issue of the Veterinary Record