Rabies in Sri Lanka: Splendid Isolation

Rabies virus exists in dogs on Sri Lanka as a single, minimally divergent lineage only distantly related to other rabies virus lineages in Asia. Stable, geographically isolated virus populations are susceptible to local extinction. A fully implemented rabies-control campaign could make Sri Lanka the first Asian country in >30 years to become free of rabies virus

Editorial: Special Issue “Innovative Techniques and Approaches in the Control and Prevention of Rabies Virus”

Rabies is an ancient lethal scourge that has plagued humankind for centuries. Globally, 60,000 human deaths are estimated to occur each year from rabies virus (RABV) transmission in domestic dogs, mostly affecting children. While rabies is recognized as a neglected disease, there is cause for optimism in the context of growing global recognition, collaboration and commitment to advance a tripartite agenda to eliminate human deaths transmitted from rabid dogs by 2030, also known as “Zero By Thirty” (ZBT). Nevertheless, the ZBT goal must also confront competing challenge(s) of tracking and mitigating human morbidity and mortality during a global pandemic caused by a viral zoonosis with likely origins from one or more wildlife reservoirs. In this context, the concept of One Health has never been more relevant and symbolic as demonstrated with prevention, control and elimination to end human rabies deaths through the mass vaccination of domestic and wild animal reservoir populations

El aumento de la rabia de la fauna silvestre: ¿una causa de interés o intervención de salud pública?

La epidemiología de la rabia en los Estados Unidos ha cambiado considerablemente durante el último medio siglo, debido a que la fuente de enfermedad ha cambiado de animales domésticos a la fauna silvestre, principalmente mapaches, zorrinos, zorros y vampiros. Además, los cambios observados entre la población de fauna silvestre afectada no han ocurrido sin la influencia humana. Más bien, la atracción humana por los recursos económicos y recreativos provista por la fauna silvestre, ha contribuido a la reemergencia de la rabia como una zoonosis mayor. Aunque las muertes humanas ocasionadas por la rabia han declinado recientemente al promedio de uno o dos al año, los costos estimados asociados con la disminución de muertes, suma centenares de millones de dólares anualmente. En esfuerzos futuros para controlar la rabia por una variedad de animales de vida libre, los profesionales de salud pública tendrán que emplear la imaginación para alcanzar soluciones eficaces en función de los costos y la seguridad de esta vieja enfermedad además de usar medidas tradicionales.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

El aumento de la rabia de la fauna silvestre: ¿una causa de interés o intervención de salud pública?

La epidemiología de la rabia en los Estados Unidos ha cambiado considerablemente durante el último medio siglo, debido a que la fuente de enfermedad ha cambiado de animales domésticos a la fauna silvestre, principalmente mapaches, zorrinos, zorros y vampiros. Además, los cambios observados entre la población de fauna silvestre afectada no han ocurrido sin la influencia humana. Más bien, la atracción humana por los recursos económicos y recreativos provista por la fauna silvestre, ha contribuido a la reemergencia de la rabia como una zoonosis mayor. Aunque las muertes humanas ocasionadas por la rabia han declinado recientemente al promedio de uno o dos al año, los costos estimados asociados con la disminución de muertes, suma centenares de millones de dólares anualmente. En esfuerzos futuros para controlar la rabia por una variedad de animales de vida libre, los profesionales de salud pública tendrán que emplear la imaginación para alcanzar soluciones eficaces en función de los costos y la seguridad de esta vieja enfermedad además de usar medidas tradicionales.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

El aumento de la rabia de la fauna silvestre: ¿una causa de interés o intervención de salud pública?

La epidemiología de la rabia en los Estados Unidos ha cambiado considerablemente durante el último medio siglo, debido a que la fuente de enfermedad ha cambiado de animales domésticos a la fauna silvestre, principalmente mapaches, zorrinos, zorros y vampiros. Además, los cambios observados entre la población de fauna silvestre afectada no han ocurrido sin la influencia humana. Más bien, la atracción humana por los recursos económicos y recreativos provista por la fauna silvestre, ha contribuido a la reemergencia de la rabia como una zoonosis mayor. Aunque las muertes humanas ocasionadas por la rabia han declinado recientemente al promedio de uno o dos al año, los costos estimados asociados con la disminución de muertes, suma centenares de millones de dólares anualmente. En esfuerzos futuros para controlar la rabia por una variedad de animales de vida libre, los profesionales de salud pública tendrán que emplear la imaginación para alcanzar soluciones eficaces en función de los costos y la seguridad de esta vieja enfermedad además de usar medidas tradicionales.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Knowledge of Bat Rabies and Human Exposure Among United States Cavers

We surveyed cavers who attended the National Speleological Society convention in June 2000. Fifteen percent of respondents did not consider a bat bite a risk for acquiring rabies; only 20% had received preexposure prophylaxis against the disease. An under-appreciation of the risk for rabies from bat bites may explain the preponderance of human rabies viruses caused by variant strains associated with bats in the United States

Use of a Direct, Rapid Immunohistochemical Test for Diagnosis of Rabies Virus in Bats

Rabies, a zoonotic encephalitis due to transmission of a lyssavirus, such as rabies virus (RABV), has the highest case fatality of any infectious disease. A global program for the elimination of human rabies caused by dogs is proposed for realization by 2030. Sensitive, specific, and inexpensive diagnostic tests are necessary for enhanced surveillance to detect infection, inform public health and veterinary professionals during risk assessments of exposure, and support overall programmatic goals. Multiple laboratory techniques are used to confirm a suspect case of rabies. One method for the detection of lyssavirus antigens within the brain is the direct rapid immunohistochemical test (dRIT), using light microscopy, and suitable for use under field conditions. Besides dogs, other major RABV reservoirs reside among mammalian mesocarnivores and bats. To date, use of the dRIT has been applied primarily for the diagnosis of RABV in suspect mesocarnivores. The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of the dRIT to the diagnosis of rabies in bats, compared to the gold-standard, the direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT). Brains of 264 suspect bats, consisting of 21 species from Arizona and Texas, were used in the evaluation of the dRIT. The overall sensitivity of the dRIT was 100% (0.969–1.0, 95% CI) and the specificity was 94.6% (0.896–0.976, 95% CI), comparable to the DFAT. This preliminary study demonstrated the utility of the dRIT in the confirmation of RABV infection in bats. Future studies should include additional geographic, lyssavirus, and mammalian species representations for broader application during enhanced rabies surveillance, with incorporation of any potential adjustments to standard protocols, as needed

Development of a GIS-based, real-time Internet mapping tool for rabies surveillance

BACKGROUND: Oral rabies vaccination programs have been implemented to control the spread of wildlife rabies in the United States. However, current surveillance systems are inadequate for the efficient management and evaluation of these large scale vaccine baiting programs. With this in mind, a GIS-based rabies surveillance database and Internet mapping application was created. This surveillance system, RabID, provides a new resource for the rapid mapping and dissemination of data on animal rabies cases in relation to unaffected, enzootic, and baited areas where current interventions are underway. RESULTS: RabID is a centralized database for diagnostic and demographic information collected by local, state, and federal agencies involved in rabies surveillance. The geo-referenced database remits data to an Internet-accessible mapping application that displays rabies surveillance data in relation to environmental and geographic features. CONCLUSION: RabID provides a pioneering example of the power of geographically based Internet-accessible, infectious disease surveillance. This surveillance system was developed from existing technology and is readily adaptable to other infectious diseases and may be particularly useful for zoonoses. The development and application of public health informatics technology may enhance the effectiveness of public health interventions and allow better evaluation of public health interventions

Safety, Immunogenicity, and Efficacy of Intramuscular and Oral Delivery of ERA-G333 Recombinant Rabies Virus Vaccine to Big Brown Bats (\u3ci\u3eEptesicus fuscus\u3c/i\u3e)

Attenuated strains of rabies virus (RABV) have been used for oral vaccination of wild carnivores in Europe and North America. However, some RABV vaccines caused clinical rabies in target animals. To improve the safety of attenuated RABV as an oral vaccine for field use, strategies using selection of escape mutants under monoclonal antibody neutralization pressure and reverse genetics–defined mutations have been used. We tested the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of one RABV construct, ERA-g333, developed with reverse genetics by intramuscular (IM) or oral (PO) routes in big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Twenty-five bats received 5×106 mouse intracerebral median lethal doses (MICLD50) of ERA-g333 by IM route, 10 received 5×106 MICLD50 of ERA-g333 by PO route, and 22 bats served as unvaccinated controls. Twenty-one days after vaccination, 44 bats were infected by IM route with 102.9 MICLD50 of E. fuscus RABV. We report both the immunogenicity and efficacy of ERA-g333 delivered by the IM route; no induction of humoral immunity was detected in bats vaccinated by the PO route. Two subsets of bats vaccinated IM (n=5) and PO (n=3) were not challenged, and none developed clinical rabies from ERA-g333. Scarce reports exist on the evaluation of oral rabies vaccines in insectivorous bats, although the strategy evaluated here may be feasible for future application to these important RABV reservoirs