Course of action set out by WSAVA and OIE

Following the recent cases of rabies in France and the Netherlands, the WSAVA and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), have come up with a set of recommendations to rabies control and elimination across the globe.

At a recent symposium held in Paris, speakers from around the globe shared their experiences of managing stray dog populations, which are the main source of human rabies.

Commenting on the symposium, BSAVA president Professor Michael Day, said: "The scale of human misery caused by this canine vaccine-preventable infection should not be tolerated in the 21st Century.

"We urge political leaders in countries where the disease is endemic to take action by establishing disease control programmes."

Following the event, the two organisations have set out a course of action, which includes forming a strong evidence base, founded in clinical and laboratory-based disease surveillance, to gather information on dog populations, demographics and disease prevalence.

It is also recommended that the success of rabies programmes be monitored through effective rabies surveillance, using decentralised rabies diagnostic testing to facilitate analysis of samples from suspected cases.

The OIE and WSAVA, whose aim is achieve global elimination of canine rabies by the year 2030, have called on government ministers and chief veterinary and medical officers to place the elimination of rabies prominently on their agendas.

Meanwhile, they say, commitment is also needed from communities and small animal veterinary practitioners, who "should play a key role in community-based programmes," aimed at raising public awareness of animal welfare, veterinary care and the prevention and management of dog bites.

The recommended measures relate particularly to the control of rabies in stray dog populations in the developing countries of Africa and Asia.

Commenting on the symposium, Dr Bernard Vallat, director general of the OIE, said: "Rabies still causes up to 60,000 human deaths every year. More than 95 per cent of human rabies cases are transmitted by dogs.

"Yet, rabies can be prevented at animal source; vaccination of dogs remains the most cost-effective, single intervention that protects humans from contracting the disease.

"A global dog vaccination campaign could be funded with just a small fraction of the funds currently used in post-exposure prophylaxis in humans. Vaccination of just 70 per cent o a dog population leads to elimination of rabies in dogs."