Public awareness on vaccination of cats against rabies and risk of human rabies due to cats in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease, most commonly spreads through the contamination of bites or scratches with virus laden saliva of infected animals. Though it is 100% fatal, it is 100% preventable if post exposure prophylaxis is administered before onset of clinical signs. Today Rabies has become a major public health issue. Presently, vaccinating only domesticated and stray dogs is the method of intervention carried out to control the transmission cycle among dogs which is, the reservior of rabies in Sri Lanka. Predominantly, dogs and cats are domestic pets in many Sri Lankan homes. Cats also vulnerable to infection as Rabies naturally affects mammals. Our aim was to assess number of rabid cats reported in Sri Lanka from 2010 to 2015 and to determine the degree of public awareness on vaccination against rabies for cats. Methods and materials: Data from bulletin published by Public Health Veterinary Services, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka for 2010 to 2015 were extracted and analyzed. Questionaire based surveillance was carried out for cats rearing households in Dehiwala Municipal Council area. Results: Data revealed the second commonest source of human rabid deaths reported from 2010 to 2015 was cats (3%). Total number of rabies suspected cat heads received for laboratory testing were 343, 364, 460, 370, 436 and 362 for year 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 and 2015 respectively. Total number of positive cat heads out of 2335 rabies suspected heads was 490 from 2010 to 2015 (p = 0.2). Total number of cat rearing households in surveyed area was 665 and out of them only 18% households were aware on vaccination of cats against rabies. Total number of cats in the area was 1189 and out of them 7% was vaccinated. Conclusion: In Sri Lanka, even domesticated cats also have a behavior pattern of roaming largely. Therefore, it is important to vaccinate domesticated cats not only to prevent the risk of disease transmission from stray cats and dogs but also to minimize the risk of human infection. Facilities for vaccination of domesticated cats and public awareness on vaccination and sending rabies suspected heads to laboratory need to be improved at national level.