Census and vaccination coverage of owned dog populations in four resource-limited rural communities, Mpumalanga province, South Africa

Abstract

Dogs (Canis familiaris) are often free-roaming in sub-Saharan African countries. Rabies virus circulates in many of these populations and presents a public health issue. Mass vaccination of dog populations is the recommended method to decrease the number of dog and human rabies cases. We describe and compare four populations of dogs and their vaccination coverage in four different villages (Hluvukani, Athol, Utah and Dixie) in Bushbuckridge Municipality, Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the villages of Athol, Utah and Dixie, while data from a Health and Demographic Surveillance System were used to describe the dog population in Hluvukani village. All households of the villages were visited to obtain information on the number, sex, age and rabies vaccination status of dogs. From May to October 2013, 2969 households were visited in the four villages and 942 owned dogs were reported. The populations were all young and skewed towards males. No differences were observed in the sex and age distributions (puppies 0–3 months excluded) among the villages. Athol had a higher proportion of dog-owning households than Hluvukani and Utah. Vaccination coverages were all above the 20% – 40% threshold required for herd immunity to rabies (38% in Hluvukani, 51% in Athol, 65% in Dixie and 74% in Utah). For the preparation of vaccination campaigns, we recommend the use of the relatively stable dog:human ratio (between 1:12 and 1:16) to estimate the number of dogs per village in Bushbuckridge Municipality.

Owned and free-roaming dogs in the North West of Tunisia: estimation, characteristics and application for the control of dog rabies

“…Our finding was similar or slightly higher than those of others studies; 3.4 dogs/km 2 in a rural area in Zimbabwe and 1 dog/km 2 in two rural areas in Chile (Brooks, 1990;Acosta-Jamett et al, 2010). However, previous studies conducted in Tunisia and other regions over the world reported high densities of dogs in both rural and urban areas (Wandeler et al, 1993;Conan et al, 2017;Kitala et al, 2001, Butler andBingham, 2000). Consequently, in rural areas with high density of the dog population, the risk of developing rabies from a probable rabid animal bite is high because access to the post-exposure prophylaxis was limited in these areas.…”

“…Our finding indicated that the female dogs produced 1 litter per year and the average litter size was 5 pups as reported in South Africa (Conan et al, 2017) and Chile (Acosta-Jamett et al, 2010) and higher than what was recorded in Australia 3.3 pups per litter (Hudson et al, 2018). In light of these results, sterilization of females in rural areas is strongly recommended as it allows stabilization of the free-roaming population by reducing the population turnover rate.…”

Carnivore Detection at the Domestic/Wildlife Interface within Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

“…Rabies in endangered species is an important consideration that can be prevented through the use of oral vaccinations or dropout darts [ 70 , 71 , 72 ]. Reserves that border domestic areas can also encourage the vaccination of domestic animals for rabies in the area, and this approach was effective in the Serengeti [ 73 , 74 ]. Additionally, interactions between carnivore and herbivore species can contribute to disease transmission in protected areas.…”

Profile of dog bite injuries in patients presenting at Kimberley Hospital Complex’s emergency and gateway centres, 2015 to 2017

“…Vaccinated dogs accounted for 1.2% of all bites -this is in contrast to a study performed in Mpumalanga which showed a vaccination status of 47% amongst dogs. 29 A study carried out in Jos City, Nigeria, found that 93% of biting dogs were unvaccinated. 24 The WHO advocates for a target of 70% rabies vaccination coverage for stray dogs.…”