Abstract
This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of rabies antigen in brain of dogs slaughtered for consumption and those that died in veterinary clinics as well as to obtain a 6-year retrospective data on dog bites/suspected dog rabies cases in Lagos State. Dog brain samples were collected from dog slaughter slabs and veterinary clinics (for dogs that died in clinics) across the Lagos state while data for retrospective studies (2006-2011) of dog bite/suspected rabies cases were collected from public (government owned) and private veterinary clinics across the state. Out of the 444 brain samples collected and tested for presence of rabies antigen using the direct fluorescent antibody technique (DFAT) only 7 (1.58%) were positive for the rabies antigen. A total of 196 dog bites/suspected rabies cases were encountered between January 2006 and December, 2011 in the veterinary clinics with adults been the major (55.61%) victims. Majority (96.43%) of the offending dogs were not quarantined at the time of bite and only one out of the quarantined dogs died and was confirmed positive for rabies antigen. The result of this study indicates that rabies antigen is present among dogs slaughtered in Lagos State and may pose a threat to public health. Though, available records showed that provocation of dogs was the major cause of dog bites and both children and adults fell victim of dog bites, there was a poor record keeping practice in the veterinary clinics across the state.
Highlights
Rabies is a fatal viral disease that affects all warm blooded vertebrates (Zulu et al, 2009)
This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of rabies antigen in brain of dogs slaughtered for consumption and those that died in veterinary clinics as well as to obtain a 6-year retrospective data on dog bites/suspected dog rabies cases in Lagos State
This study is conducted to determine the prevalence of rabies antigen in brain of dogs slaughtered for consumption and those that died in veterinary clinics as well as to obtain retrospective data on dog bites/suspected dog rabies cases in Lagos State
Summary
Rabies is a fatal viral disease that affects all warm blooded vertebrates (Zulu et al, 2009). It is one of the most important and widespread zoonotic diseases and a global dilemma (Blancou, 1988; WHO, 1991; WHO, 1998). The virus causing the disease belongs to genotype 1 of the genus Lyssa virus in the family Rhabdoviridae. The Lyssa virus genus, within the Rhabdoviridae family, is subdivided into seven genotypes based on RNA sequencing (Bourhy et al, 1993a,b; 1999): Classical rabies virus (RABV, genotype 1 found worldwide), Lagos bat virus (genotype 2 found in Africa), Mokola virus (genotype 3 most common in Africa), Duvenhage virus (genotype 4 most common in Africa), European bat lyssavirus 1 (EBLV-1, genotype 5 most common in Europe), European bat lyssavirus 2 (EBLV-2, genotype 6 most common in Europe), and Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV, genotype 7 most common in Australia) (Badrane et al, 2001; Gould et al, 1998). Four putative viruses (Aravan, Khujand, Irkut and West Caucasian Bat Virus, Shimoni bat virus isolated in 2009) as well as Bokeloh bat lyssavirus (Freuling et al, 2011) and the Ikoma lyssavrus
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