Potential economic benefits of eliminating canine rabies

Abstract

Although canine rabies has been eliminated from industrialized countries, infected dogs remain the primary source of human and livestock exposures in Asia, Africa and much of South America. Human deaths are the most important direct economic impact of canine rabies, followed by livestock losses and the cost of PEP, while expenses associated with dog vaccination and control are major indirect impacts. The global burden of rabies disproportionately affects Asia, which experiences more than half of human rabies deaths and approximately 65% of livestock losses, and performs more than 90% of postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). Africa is second to Asia in terms of human deaths and livestock losses, but administers the least number of PEPs of the three regions. Recent experience in Latin America shows that efforts to reduce human deaths from rabies through expanded dog vaccination and improved access to PEP result in significant monetary savings. The elimination of canine rabies would lead to major economic benefits in developing countries that are often the least capable of dealing with the disease. This article forms part of a symposium in Antiviral Research on the elimination of canine rabies.

Human rabies: a descriptive observation of 21 children in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo

“…According to global estimations, 60 000 deaths occur each year in the world, among which 24 000 deaths in Africa in the world (95% CI: 6900-45 900) per year in Africa. 1,2 Children are victims of up to 50% of these mortalities. Urbanization is the major cause of spread of rabies in Africa.…”

“…Urbanization is the major cause of spread of rabies in Africa. [1][2][3] In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first case of human rabies was reported in 1923. 4 Rabies was declared enzootic disease by the authorities in 1950.…”

Immunoinformatic Approach for Epitope-Based Peptide Vaccine against Lagos Rabies Virus Glycoprotein G

“…The two viruses originating from Senegal (1985) and found in France (was introduced via Togo or Egypt; 1999) makes another phylogenetic lineage and they were found similar to each other, where a third lineage is formed by isolates from Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic and South Africa from 1974 to 2006 and the genetic distances between these lineages are greater than those found with other lyssavirus species [4]. This virus is able to infect all mammals and the disease causes thousands of human deaths every year mainly in Asia and Africa where the virus circulates endemically in domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) [2]. The majority of these deaths (99%) are caused by bites from rabid dogs, causing continuous fear and threat to the suspected communities because the disease is invariably fatal but also preventable if managed earlier after infection, the role of domestic dogs as main vectors of rabies is recognized with little data about the dog-associated RABV variant than wild life variants such as skunk and raccoon RABVs circulating in North America [5].…”

“…Rabies is zoonotic disease distributed globally and caused by 11 viral species belonging to single-stranded RNA virus from the Lyssavirus genus related to the family Rhabdoviridae [1,2]. The genus Lyssavirus includes classical rabies virus (Rabies virus (RABV), Lagos bat virus (LBV), Duvenhage virus (DUVV), Mokola virus (MOKV) and Shimoni bat virus (SHIBV) were isolated in Africa, while LBV, MOKV, DUVV and SHIBV exist exclusively in Africa [3].…”

Effects of Rabies Elimination Program on Rabies Cases in Bali, 2008–2015

“…Besides addressing the 100% mortality in the infected host, therefore, rabies elimination programs are also directed at the macro-economy impact of the disease [11]. Over three million US dollars has been spent on the rabies elimination program in Indonesia.…”