Determinants of dog owner-charged rabies vaccination in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Eric Kawaya Kazadi,Justin Masumu,Victor Mbao,Georges Mbuyi Tshilenge,Zakariaou Njoumemi,Zheng Xing

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186677

Eric Kawaya Kazadi, Justin Masumu + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186677

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Abstract

Rabies is a preventable fatal disease that causes about 61,000 human deaths annually around the world, mostly in developing countries. In Africa, several studies have shown that vaccination of pets is effective in controlling the disease. An annual vaccination coverage of 70% is recommended by the World Health Organization as a control threshold. The effective control of rabies requires vaccination coverage of owned dogs. Identification of the factors determining dog owners’ choice to vaccinate is necessary for evidence-based policy-making. However, for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the limited data on rabies vaccination coverage makes it difficult for its control and formulation of appropriate policies. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Kinshasa (Lemba commune) with dog-owning households and owned dogs as study populations. The association between dog vaccination and independent factors (household socio-demographics characteristics, dog characteristics, knowledge of rabies and location of veterinary offices/clinics) was performed with Epi-info 7. The Odds Ratio (OR) and p-value < 0.05 were used to determine levels of significance. A total of 166 households owning dogs and 218 owned dogs were investigated. 47% of the dogs had been vaccinated within one year preceding the survey which is higher than the critical coverage (25 to 40%) necessary to interrupt rabies transmission but below the 70% threshold recommended by WHO for control. The determinants of vaccination included socio-economic level of the household (OR = 2.9, p<0.05), formal education level of the dog owner (OR = 4, p<0.05), type of residence (OR = 4.6, p<0.05), knowledge of rabies disease (OR = 8.0, p<0.05), knowledge of location of veterinary offices/clinics (OR = 3.4, p<0.05), dog gender (OR = 1.6, p<0.05) and dog breed (OR = 2.1, p<0.05). This study shows that the vaccination coverage in this area can easily reach the WHO threshold if supplemented by mass vaccination campaigns.

Highlights

Rabies is an acute meningoencephalitis caused by a lyssavirus infection
60.5% of these dogs had a history of rabies vaccination and 49.5% of them had been vaccinated once within the year leading up to the study while 11% were vaccinated more than once in the same period
In Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), most dog owners vaccinate their animals with RABISIN1 (Merial, France), a monovalent inactivated rabies vaccine widely commercialized in the country

Summary

Introduction

Rabies is an acute meningoencephalitis caused by a lyssavirus infection. The lyssavirus genus belongs to the Mononegavirales order and the Rhabdoviridae family [1]Rabies is mainly transmitted through saliva of infected animals. A wide range of mammals are susceptible and once infected, can transmit rabies through biting other animals. The first case of human death due to dog transmitted rabies was documented in 2300 B.C. [3] In Africa, the first rabies oubreak was documented in Algeria in 1858 [4]. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first case of dog rabies was documented in 1923[5]. Rabies is responsible for an estimated 61,000 human deaths per year in the world, predominantly in Asia and Africa [1] Dog to human transmission is responsible for 98% of rabies cases in Asia and Africa [6]

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