– A community-based approach to vaccinating dogs against rabies could help protect countless children in Africa and other areas from one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, according to a new study led by Washington State University.
Conducted over three years in rural Tanzania, the National Institutes of Health-funded study found that community-based rabies vaccination programs kept significantly more dogs protected against the disease than traditional annual vaccination campaigns, which are typically led by teams of vaccinators who come from outside of the communities they serve.
The new approach also maintained more consistent vaccination coverage throughout the year, reducing the risk that protection would fall below the level needed to prevent transmission.
The findings of the study were published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
“The biggest finding from this study is that community-based approaches to disease control are effective and cost effective,” said Felix Lankester, a professor in the WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine’s Paul G.
Allen School for Global Health, director of the Rabies Free Africa Program, and senior author on the study.
“Involving the community in implementing campaigns is a really effective way to achieve your disease control goals.
With approaches like this, we have the tools to eliminate human rabies, however, it will take funding commitments and political will.” Rabies is estimated to kill up to 160,000 people each year, primarily in Africa and Asia.
More than 99% of human cases – most of which occur in children – are caused by bites from infected domestic dogs, making widespread dog vaccination one of the most effective tools for preventing human infections.
The study compared the standard model of rabies control with a new community-based system.
Traditional programs rely on vaccination teams traveling from village to village once a year, administering vaccines that must be stored under refrigeration and transported from centralized locations.
The report adds to ongoing university-led research relevant to veterinary medicine, animal health, and clinical decision-making.
university website: Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine
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