Livestock Rabies Research Articles

Households neighboring wildlife protected areas may be at a higher risk of rabies than those located further away: a community-based cross-sectional cohort study at Pian Upe game reserve, Bukedea district, Eastern Uganda

IntroductionThis study examines rabies incidence and associated risk factors at the interface between wildlife and human communities near Pian-Upe game reserve in Eastern Uganda. We hypothesized that human settlements in closer proximity to the reserve would exhibit higher rabies risk compared to those located further away.MethodsUsing a standard questionnaire, households within <4, 4-14, and >14 km from the Pian Upe game reserve in Bukedea District were interviewed. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, recent rabid animal bites, and suspected human and livestock rabies cases for the past year (2023) were collected after seeking informed consent. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze socio-demographic information and incidence data, while separate binomial generalized linear models with log-link function were used to identify predictors of rabies incidence and mortality.ResultsBetween January and March 2023, 302 participants were interviewed. Respondents had an average age of 44 years with 34% (n=103) being female. All households owned at least one dog, though only 47% (n=142) had vaccinated their dogs against rabies in the past year. Additionally, 39% (n=118) of respondents used dogs for hunting. Rabies annual incidence increased with decreasing distance to the game reserve (7.5 to 15.7% for humans, for the dogs, and 5.0 to 9.8% for livestock, including cows, goats and sheep). Significant factors associated with rabies in humans included primary education level (aRR=3.8, 95%CI 1.0-23.7) and grazing livestock in the reserve (aRR=5.30, 95%CI 1.0-40.3). Mortality was associated with fetching firewood from the game reserve (aRR=4.7, 95%CI 1.3-17.5).ConclusionsThis study reveals that there is an increased risk of rabies for domesticated animals and people located within proximity to the game reserve. Further efforts to prevent the spread of rabies could include increasing education and awareness for communities along with targeted dog vaccination in settlements surrounding wildlife protected areas.

Spatial clusters, temporal behavior, and risk factors analysis of rabies in livestock in Ecuador

Rabies, a globally distributed and highly lethal zoonotic neglected tropical disease, has a significant impact in South America. In Ecuador, animal rabies cases are primarily linked to livestock, and hematophagous bats play a crucial role in disease transmission. This study aims to identify temporal trends, spatial patterns, and risk factors for animal rabies in Ecuador between 2014 and 2019. Epidemiological survey reports from the official Animal Rabies Surveillance Program of the Phyto and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control Agency of Ecuador (AGROCALIDAD) were used. The Animal Rabies Surveillance Program from AGROCALIDAD consists of an official passive surveillance program that receives reports from farmers or individuals (both trained or untrained) who have observed animals with neurological clinical signs and lesions compatible with bat bites, or who have seen or captured bats on their farms or houses. Once this report is made, AGROCALIDAD personnel is sent for field inspection, having to confirm the suspicion of rabies based on farm conditions and compatibility of signs. AGROCALIDAD personnel collect samples from all suspicious animals, which are further processed and analyzed using the Direct Fluorescent Antibody (DFA) test for rabies confirmatory diagnosis. In this case, study data comprised 846 bovine farms (with intra-farm sample sizes ranging from 1 to 16 samples) located in different ecoregions of Ecuador; out of these, 397 (46.93%) farms tested positive for animal rabies, revealing six statistically significant spatial clusters. Among these clusters, three high-risk areas were identified in the southeast of Ecuador. Seasonality was confirmed by the Ljung-Box test for both the number of cases (p < 0.001) and the positivity rate (p < 0.001). The Pacific Coastal lowlands and Sierra regions showed a lower risk of positivity compared to Amazonia (OR = 0.529; 95% CI = 0.318 – 0.883; p = 0.015 and OR = 0.633; 95% CI = 0.410 – 0.977; p = 0.039, respectively). The breeding of non-bovine animal species demonstrated a lower risk of positivity to animal rabies when compared to bovine (OR = 0.145; 95% CI = 0.062 – 0.339; p < 0.001). Similarly, older animals exhibited a lower risk (OR = 0.974; 95% CI = 0.967 – 0.981; p < 0.001). Rainfall during the rainy season was also found to decrease the risk of positivity to animal rabies (OR = 0.996; 95% CI = 0.995 – 0.998; p < 0.001). This study underscores the significance of strengthening the national surveillance program for the prevention and control of animal rabies in Ecuador and other countries facing similar epidemiological, social, and geographical circumstances.

Risk mapping and risk factors analysis of rabies in livestock in Bangladesh using national-level passive surveillance data.

Rabies is a major zoonotic disease around the world, causing significant mortality to both humans and animals, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In Bangladesh, rabies is transmitted mostly by the bite of infected dogs and jackals to humans and domestic livestock, causing severe economic losses and public health hazards. Our study analyzed national passive surveillance data of veterinary hospital-reported rabies cases in cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats from 2015 to 2017 in all 64 districts of Bangladesh. We used a zero-inflated negative binomial regression model to identify the main environmental and socio-economic risk factors associated with rabies occurrence in livestock, and we used model results to generate risk maps. Our study revealed that monsoon precipitation (RR=1.28, p-value=0.043) was positively associated with rabies cases in livestock, and the percentage of adults who have completed university education was also a significant predictor (RR=0.58, p-value<0.001) likely suggesting that districts with higher education levels tended to have a lower reporting of rabies cases in livestock. The standardized incidence ratio maps and predicted relative risk maps revealed a high risk of rabies cases in southeast areas in Bangladesh. We recommend implementing risk-based vaccination strategies in dogs and jackals in those high-risk areas before monsoon to reduce the burden of rabies cases in domestic ruminants and humans in Bangladesh.

Construction of Recombinant Rabies Virus Vectors Expressing H or F Protein of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus.

Simple SummaryPeste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the most contagious and fatal diseases of small ruminants. In this study, two recombinant viruses rSRV9-H and rSRV9-F, which express the envelope glycoprotein H (hemagglutinin protein) or F (fusion protein) protein, respectively, were successfully generated with a rabies virus as vector. The constructed viruses had good proliferative activity and stability and provided potential bivalent inactivated vaccine candidate strains for the prevention of PPR and livestock rabies.Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the most contagious and fatal diseases of small ruminants in the world and is classified as a category A epidemic disease. It is the target of a global eradication campaign led by the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The PPR live attenuated vaccine is currently the most widely used and approved vaccine, but the use of this vaccine interferes with the serological testing of the PPR elimination program, and there is a potential safety risk. Viral vector vaccines are one of the most promising methods to solve this dilemma. In this study, the full-length infectious clone plasmid of rabies virus (RABV), pD-SRV9-PM-LASV, was used as the backbone, and the envelope glycoprotein H (hemagglutinin protein) or F (fusion protein) gene of PPRV was inserted into the backbone plasmid to construct the infectious clones pD-SRV9-PM-PPRV-H and pD-SRV9-PM-PPRV-F, which express the PPRV H and PPRV F genes, respectively. The correct construction of these infectious clones was verified after sequencing and double digestion. The infectious clones were transfected with a helper plasmid into BSR/T7 cells, and recombinant viruses were successfully rescued by direct immunofluorescence, indirect immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and transmission electron microscopy and named rSRV9-H and rSRV9-F. The results of growth kinetics studies indicated that the inserted gene did not affect virus proliferation. Stability studies revealed that the inserted target gene was stably expressed in recombinant RABV for at least 15 generations. In this study, the recombinant viruses rSRV9-H and rSRV9-F were successfully rescued. The constructed viruses had good proliferative activity and stability and provided potential bivalent inactivated vaccine candidate strains for the prevention of PPR and livestock rabies.

Risk Mapping and Risk Factors Analysis of Rabies in Livestock in Bangladesh Using National-Level Passive Surveillance Data

Risk Mapping and Risk Factors Analysis of Rabies in Livestock in Bangladesh Using National-Level Passive Surveillance Data

Turning the rationale of cattle rabies surveillance and control in Latin America: from rabies case to vampire bat aggression-based program

In Brazil and in most of the Latin America countries, the control of the cattle rabies relies upon the indiscriminate culling of the Desmodus rotundus inside a radius of 12 km around an outbreak. The culling is performed by applying warfarin paste in the back of the bats, in the hope that when it returns to its roost after foraging, its conspecifics would ingest the paste during social grooming and die of hemorrhage. This control approach is performed in absentia with the surveillance effort, since if bats die indiscriminately, the effects in the social structure of the colonies are unknown. It is believed that the indiscriminate culling helps the rabies virus spread among bats and consequently, the spillover to livestock. For this reason, any sampling effort in bats and even the identification of cattle rabies outbreaks transmitted by bats is useless to predict future outbreaks or even mitigate current outbreaks. Even though the tendency of the cattle rabies outbreaks is decreasing in Brazil, this should be carefully considered, since rabies surveillance efforts are heterogeneous and decreasing. Even so, the nationwide space-time cattle rabies outbreak shows a wave pattern, increasing the urge of the revision of the current surveillance and control actions. The present work proposes a new approach aiming at decreasing the spillover to livestock by incorporating ecological features of the D. rotundus, most importantly turning the surveillance-control rationale which is currently reactive to livestock rabies cases to a surveillance system reactive to changes in the incidence of vampire bat attacks on the livestock and selective bat population control. For example, estimating the roosts' carrying capacity and contact networks allows the interruption of rabies virus spread by reducing the bat population of target individuals in selected roosts or roost communities. Moreover, the terrain slope dependency of the bat foraging behavior allows to find more efficiently the roost from which bats are attacking a farm or conversely, to find attacked farms if an occupied bat roost is known. These practices could increase the efficiency of the surveillance and control and the cost-effectiveness of the current cattle rabies control program.

Spatial Distribution of Bat Shelters and Livestock Rabies in Southern Brazil.

This study focused on the epidemiological characterization and spatial distribution of bat shelters concerning livestock animal rabies in Paraná State, southern Brazil. A spatiotemporal cluster analysis was performed based on rabies-positive cases and the Desmodus rotundus shelters. A total of 1742 suspect rabies cases submitted for diagnosis from 2011 to 2017 were analyzed; 481 (27.61%) were positive, and 1261 (72.39%) were negative by direct immunofluorescence and biological testing in mice. Out of the positive samples, 413/481 (85.8%) was bovine, 44/481 (9.1%) equine, 6/481 (1.2%) sheep, 5/481 (1.0%) bubaline, and 14/481 (2.9%) were bats. From 22 Regional Units of Agricultural Health, the northeast 129 (26.82%) and central 86 (17.88%) units had the highest recurrence rates of positive cases. Paraná State was continuously endemic for livestock rabies, with the highest caseload seen in the southern-central regions, which was associated with the highest number of vampire bat shelters and natural geographical characteristics favoring bat housing. There was a decrease in the number of rabies cases in livestock in 2013 and 2014. Spatiotemporal analyses of point process mapping and control of D. rotundus shelters and suspected livestock rabies cases in the study area were steady and statistically correlated. However, as bats may travel up to 35-40 km to prey on cattle clusters, bat shelter locations may not be the most sensitive measure of exposure. Furthermore, future studies should consider landscape features such as altitude as potential associated risk factors. Rabies vaccination of livestock and bat hematophagous shelters identification combined with bat control is recommended to increase the efficacy of preventive measures, particularly in natural geographic characteristics favoring local bat housing.

Predictive risk model of livestock rabies occurrence in Peru

Livestock rabies is endemic in Peru. Hence, its persistence and annual dissemination represent an important economic impact, especially for impoverished farming communities. The disease is mostly transmitted by the hematophagous bat Desmodus rotundus. The present study aimed to adapt an existing predictive model of the occurrence of livestock rabies to Peru, in which the risk of rabies transmission from bats to livestock was estimated using decision-tree models of receptivity and vulnerability. Official rabies surveillance data between 2010 and 2015 were used along with possible risk factors, such as livestock biomass, environmental changes, and geomorphological characteristics. Several scenarios were established to evaluate the prediction of the occurrence of livestock rabies cases by determining more than one cut-off point of the receptivity variables. During the study period, the precision of the model was estimated through the sensitivity (39.46%) and specificity (98.64%) by using confusion matrices. Targeting control efforts, especially in districts with a high estimated risk, could represent the prevention of a significant proportion of livestock rabies cases, which would optimize the human and economic resources of the Peruvian surveillance service. However, the quality of data produced by the surveillance should be improved not only to obtain higher model precision but also to allow the adequate planning of control actions.

Evolution of Rabies in South America and Inter-Species Dynamics (2009-2018).

Rabies is listed as one of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Neglected Tropical Diseases Worldwide, with a significant impact in South America. This paper explores the dynamics of rabies cases in humans, pets (dogs and cats), livestock and wildlife (bats in particular) in South America during the period 2009–2018. The data used in this study were derived from the two main databases for rabies in South America: the OIE-WAHIS from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and PANAFTOSA’s Regional Information System for the Epidemiological Surveillance of Rabies (SIRVERA). Being a neglected disease with possible underreporting in some areas, the reported rabies cases may not always represent the real disease burden. The analysis focuses on the evolution of the number of cases in time and their spatial distribution, as well as on the main source of infections in humans, determined by laboratory assays of the antigenic variant or through epidemiological investigations. Additionally, Generalised Linear Mixed Models (GLMM) were used to evaluate the risk factors associated with the occurrence of human cases. Our results show that the highest impact of the disease in terms of number of cases was reported on livestock, while the overall number of cases (in animals and humans) progressively decreased along the study period. The spatial distribution of rabies in livestock showed two main clusters in the north-western (mainly Colombia) and in the south-eastern part of the affected area (Brazil), and a third smaller cluster in Peru. A cluster in dogs was observed in Bolivia. Out of the 192 human cases reported during the study period, 70% of them were transmitted by bats. The number of human cases reported during the study period were significantly associated with the number of rabies cases reported in livestock, pets and wildlife. Despite the overall decreasing case report rate, the disease still represents a major animal and public health concern in South America, and new strategies for compiling systematic information, networking and education are needed, as well as the education and training of veterinary staff.

Epidemiology of Animal Rabies - China, 2010-2020.

IntroductionRabies is a fatal zoonotic infectious disease that poses a serious threat to public health in China. Since 2005, a National Animal Rabies Surveillance System has been operating to understand the rabies situation in animals in China with a view to control and eventually eliminate dog-mediated human rabies.MethodsFrom 2010, the brain tissues of dogs, livestock, and wild animals showing rabies-like clinical signs were collected and tested by the National Reference Laboratory (NRL) for Animal Rabies to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of rabies, including animal species, geographic distribution, and transmission sources. Over the same period, clinically suspected animal rabies cases were collected by Animal Disease Control Centers through the National Animal Disease Monitoring Information Platform (NADMIP) and then reported in the Veterinary Bulletin. ResultsDuring 2010–2020, 170 of 212 suspected animal rabies cases were submitted to and confirmed by NRL as rabies virus-positive. Of these confirmed cases dogs, especially free-roaming and ownerless dogs in rural areas, were major transmission hosts (71/170). A total of 51 infected dogs attacked humans with 45 biting more than one person. The dog cases were reported all year round, but with significantly more in spring and summer. The majority of livestock rabies cases (70/80) being caused by rabid wild foxes in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia revealed that foxes play a pivotal role in animal rabies epizootics in the north and northwest of the country.ConclusionDogs were the main transmission sources of rabies in China, and along with the recent increase of rabies in foxes and other wildlife, presented an increasing threat to livestock and public health.

Different rabies outbreaks on two beef cattle farms in the same province of China: Diagnosis, virus characterization and epidemiological analysis.

Eliminating rabies is challenging in many developing countries, especially in rural areas. In contrast to the annual decline of human cases in China in last decade, the incidence of rabies in livestock has been increasingly reported. This paper reports the rabies outbreaks in beef cattle (Angus) in Shaanxi Province, China, which caused 31 and 5 deaths at an attack rate of 19.4% (95% CI: 13.6%-26.4%) and 0.25% (95% CI: 0.1%-0.6%) in a satellite cow farm (farm A) and a core intensive farm (farm B), respectively. The rabies infection was confirmed by several laboratory tests, and rabies virus (RABV) strains SXBJ15 and SXYL15 were isolated and characterized from farm A and B, respectively. The two strains were found to have a high genomic sequence similarity to the dog-associated China clade I strains previously identified in the neighbouring area. SXBJ15 was shown to have a higher mouse pathogenicity (1.07) than SXYL15 (0.45). RABV was also detected in the saliva and salivary glands from the affected cattle. The potential causes were investigated on the farm, and the biosecurity scores were 20 and 64 (a full score of 82) for farms A and B, respectively. The rabies infection is likely to result from rabid free-roaming dogs (FRDs). On farm A with more cow deaths, the rabies transmission between animals can be attributed to the improper disposal of aborted foetuses and placental materials as a food source for rabid FRDs, high stocking density and drinking water sharing. Additionally, vaccinating cattle with a canine vaccine was shown to help stop the spread of rabies in herds. These results indicate that the occurrence of RABV on cattle farms can be prevented by improving biosecurity measures to control the entry of rural FRDs on the farm and immunizing farm cattle against rabies.

Abortive vampire bat rabies infections in Peruvian peridomestic livestock.

Rabies virus infections normally cause universally lethal encephalitis across mammals. However, ‘abortive infections’ which are resolved prior to the onset of lethal disease have been described in bats and a variety of non-reservoir species. Here, we surveyed rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers in 332 unvaccinated livestock of 5 species from a vampire bat rabies endemic region of southern Peru where livestock are the main food source for bats. We detected rabies virus neutralizing antibody titers in 11, 5 and 3.6% of cows, goats and sheep respectively and seropositive animals did not die from rabies within two years after sampling. Seroprevalence was correlated with the number of local livestock rabies mortalities reported one year prior but also one year after sample collection. This suggests that serological status of livestock can indicate the past and future levels of rabies risk to non-reservoir hosts. To our knowledge, this is the first report of anti-rabies antibodies among goats and sheep, suggesting widespread abortive infections among livestock in vampire bat rabies endemic areas. Future research should resolve the within-host biology underlying clearance of rabies infections. Cost-effectiveness analyses are also needed to evaluate whether serological monitoring of livestock can be a viable complement to current monitoring of vampire bat rabies risk based on animal mortalities alone.

Livestock rabies in Pará state, Brazil: a descriptive study (2004 to 2013)

ABSTRACT: Rabies is an important zoonosis to public health associated with lethal encephalitis and economic losses. Analysis of its spatial distribution is a meaningful tool in understanding its dispersion, which may contribute to the control and prophylaxis of the disease. This study analyzed the spatial-temporal distribution of rabies outbreaks in livestock in Pará state, Brazil, from 2004 to 2013. We used records of neurological syndromes obtained from the state’s livestock authority (Adepará). The analysis recorded 711 neurological syndromes reports in livestock, of which 32.8% were positive for rabies. In 8% of the neurological syndromes (n=57) was not possible to perform the analysis because of bad-packaging conditions of the samples sent. Outbreaks involved at least 1,179 animals and cattle were the most affected animal species (76.8%). The numbers of reported neurological syndromes and of rabies outbreak shad strong positive correlation and exhibited decreasing linear trend. Spatially, most outbreaks occurred in two mesoregions in Pará (Northeast and Southeast). One of the justifications for this spatial distribution may be related with the distribution of the animals in the state, since these mesoregions are the largest cattle producers in Pará and have most of their territory deforested for pasture implementation.

Spatio-temporal description of bovine rabies cases in Peru, 2003-2017.

Vampire bats became the main reservoir of rabies in Latin America, where the disease remains one of the most important viral zoonoses affecting humans and livestock. In Peru, the most affected livestock are cattle. The official data of 1,729 cases of bovine rabies were evaluated between 2003 and 2017 through a descriptive analysis, decomposition of the time-series and spatio-temporal analyses. Although the cases did not present a defined seasonality, the trend seemed to increase for several years. The bovine rabies cases are more frequent in the inter-Andean valleys than in other regions of the Amazon plains. The highest case density was observed in the regions of Ayacucho, Cuzco and Apurímac, all located in the Andes. It is necessary to review the current national program for the prevention and control of rabies in livestock, incorporating concepts of the ecology of vampire bats, as well as the prediction of the infection waves geographic and temporal spread. These approaches could improve the efficiency of other current prevention measures that have not shown the expected control effects, such as indiscriminate culling of vampire bats.

The common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) and the transmission of the rabies virus to livestock: A contact network approach and recommendations for surveillance and control

The importance of the common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus for the transmission of the rabies virus does not lie solely in its ability to transmit this disease to other mammals, but also in its capacity to adapt to environmental and climatic changes, granting them a wide geographical distribution. Control of this disease is currently based on culling of the vampire bat and vaccination of the livestock. A transmission model incorporating geographic and behavioral determinants of the vampire bat was proposed to direct and optimize the epidemiological surveillance and control of livestock rabies. This model was built using a bimodal network connecting 260 vampire bat roosts among themselves (roost-roost-network) and with 1557 farms (roost-farm network) in eastern Sao Paulo State, Brazil. These roosts were grouped in 9 communities, some very interconnected, and some not and the farms were grouped in 14 communities. From 2013 to 2017, 44 livestock rabies outbreaks occurred in the area, circulating among the farm communities during the entire period, with possible introductions from neighboring areas. Based on the network and environment parameters, it was possible to reasonably predict both the roosts’ occupation type (harem, bachelor, overnight and empty) and livestock rabies outbreak occurrence. The network approach brings light to the importance of phylogenetic studies of bats and rabies virus. Finally, the understanding of the interactions between bats and their feeding sources, influenced by the environment, allows to establish more precise surveillance and control measures and, ultimately, with a lower cost-benefit ratio of these actions.

Bovine rabies: economic loss and its mitigation through antirabies vaccination

ABSTRACT: Rabies is among the most common neurological disease in cattle in Brazil, causing significant economic losses. Data on the economic impact of rabies in livestock are available in several countries. However, in Brazil, these data focus mainly on the public health point o view, emphasizing the costs related to the prevention of rabies in humans, in dogs, or wildlife. Specific studies carried out in different regions of Brazil indicate critical economic losses caused by rabies in cattle in this country. However, the studies on the losses caused by the disease in cattle lack a detailed analysis of the affected rural properties based on data from official disease control agencies. The objective of this work was to evaluate the economic impact of bovine rabies, and its mitigation through antirabies vaccination in rural properties in Mato Grosso do Sul, Midwestern Brazil.

Modeling the Transmission Dynamics of Rabies for Dog, Chinese Ferret Badger and Human Interactions in Zhejiang Province, China.

Human rabies is one of the major public health problems in China with an average of 1977 cases per year. It is estimated that 95% of these human rabies cases are due to dog bites. In recent years, the number of wildlife-associated human rabies cases has increased, particularly in the southeast and northeast regions of mainland China. Chinese ferret badgers (CFBs) are one of the most popular wildlife animals which are distributed mostly in the southeast region of China. Human cases caused by rabid CFB were first recorded in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, in 1994. From 1996 to 2004, more than 30 human cases were caused by CFB bites in Zhejiang Province. In this paper, based on the reported data of the human rabies caused by both dogs and CFB in Zhejiang Province, we propose a multi-host zoonotic model for the dog-CFB-human transmission of rabies. We first evaluate the basic reproduction number [Formula: see text] discuss the stability of the disease-free equilibrium, and study persistence of the disease. Then we use our model to fit the reported data in Zhejiang Province from 2004 to 2017 and forecast the trend of human or livestock rabies. Finally by carrying out sensitivity analysis of the basic reproduction number in terms of parameters, we find that the transmission between dogs and CFB, the quantity of dogs, and the vaccination rate of dogs play important roles in the transmission of rabies. Our study suggests that rabies control and prevention strategies should include enhancing public education and awareness about rabies, increasing dog vaccination rate, reducing the dog and CFB interactions, and avoiding CFB bites or contact.

Comparative study on dog bite and rabies in livestock and pet animal with their management in Faridpur sadar upazilla Veterinary hospital

A cross-sectional study was carried out from 13th January to 15thMarch 2015 in the Upazilla Veterinary Hospital of the Sadar Upazilla under Faridpur District to estimate the dog bites, rabies, and their management in different livestock and pet animals registered for treatment. A prototype questionnaire was used to obtain the necessary information from the owners of the animals observed. Out of the total 170 animals diagnosed and treated based on gross lesion and history, 24, 13, 133 were cattle, dogs, and goats, respectively. The proportion positive of dog bite cases was 17.4% in cattle, 20.5% in goats, and 8.3% in dogs. Among the dog bitten animals, 77.8% were Category-III (single or multiple transdermal bites or scratches, licks on broken skin) bite. The prevalence of rabies in dog bitten animals was 2.50% in dogs, 0.8% in goats and no rabies case was recorded in cattle. Post-rabies vaccine was used in 46.4%, 100% and 75.0% dog-bitten goats, cattle and dogs, respectively. The occupation and literacy of the owner, types of cattle, animal’s age, and animal source etc. showed a considerable difference in prevalence. However, none of the association was statistically significant. This baseline study might be extended with a required number of samples to identify potential risk factors for the occurrence of rabies in different animals.Res. Agric., Livest. Fish.5(2): 215-224, August 2018

The impact of paralytic bovine rabies transmitted by vampire bats in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The effective control of dog rabies in Latin America is justifiably seen as a major success in the struggle to limit this devastating zoonosis. However, rabies remains a problem, due to the presence of the virus in bat populations throughout the region, including vampire bats. Vampire bats obtain nutrition exclusively through consuming blood by biting mammals and birds. This makes the species a highly efficient vector of the rabies virus, responsible for sporadic outbreaks of rabies in human populations and numerous cases of rabies in livestock. This, in turn, causes economic losses to the farming industry in countries throughout the region. For over four decades, efforts to control rabies have been directed at controlling the reservoir species and vaccinating cattle. However, this approach has not eliminated rabies in livestock. A major barrier to innovation in vampire rabies control is a lack of consistent surveillance to establish the extent of the problem. This precludes any calculation of its cost to the economy or the cost of potential solutions, such as vaccinating livestock. This paper outlines the problem of livestock rabies in Latin America and considers factors that influence the economic cost of potential solutions to this continuing challenge to human and livestock health.

A REVIEW OF RABIES IN LIVESTOCK AND HUMANS IN ETHIOPIA

Rabies, a viral disease caused by lyssa virus of family Rhabdoviridae, is a fatal zoonotic disease with worldwide occurrence and endemic in developing countries of Africa and Asia. Rabies generally affects all warm-blooded animals, but it is primarily a disease of dogs in Ethiopia because access to suspected domestic canids and pets are not controlled indoor or by immunization. The major means of transmission of the disease is through any types of bite, scratch, or other situation in which saliva, cerebral, spinal fluid, tear, or nervous tissues from suspected or known rabid animal or person enters an open wound, is transplanted into, or comes in contact with mucus membrane of another animals or person. One of retrospective study of rabies in Addis Ababa from 1990 – 2000 indicated that an average of 2,200 people per year received post – exposure antirabies treatment while 95% of the reported fatal human rabies case was due to dog bites. The widespread use of traditional medicine among urban and rural population of Ethiopia could be attributed to cultural acceptability, physical accessibility and economic affordability. Individuals who are exposed to the rabies virus often see traditional healers for the diagnosis and treatments of the disease. Once the virus entered into body of exposed individuals through wound (abrasion) or direct contact with mucosal surface, then there, it replicates in the site of deposit (bitten site), where local viral proliferation occurs, and get access (viral attachment) to motor endplates. The clinical sign of the disease is nonspecific and difficult to differentiate without laboratory test, but some of signs such as pupil dilation in some case, paralysis (last stage) and hydrophobia are some characteristic signs. The control of access to domestic canid to other suspected animals is not only prevention method but also is treatment measures. Mass vaccination of dogs and removal of stray canids are the best measure of control. In general, this study provides an overview of the current status of Rabies in livestock and human in Ethiopia.