Abstract
The present study reports the first survey for the detection of antirabies antibodies in street and household dogs in India. We aimed to check the efficacy of control programs for the disease in the Union territory of Chandigarh. The serum samples were collected from 100 street and 50 household dogs and tested for the presence of antirabies antibodies by ELISA. As per WHO criteria, a titre of >0.5 IU/ml of antirabies antibody in serum samples was taken as the protective level. Protective antirabies antibody titre was found only in 1% of the street dogs and 16% of the pet dogs. The awareness among the pet dog owners about the antirabies vaccination schedule was low as 18% did not know the vaccination status of the dog and 66% had got the initial immunization done with only three doses and annual boosters were not given. A National Rabies Elimination Program needs to be launched as a collaborative venture by both medical and veterinary practitioners to curb this deadly disease. Also periodic surveys to test the status of antirabies IgG among dogs need to be carried out to ascertain the attainment of WHO protective levels
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ELISA:
-
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
- PFA:
-
People for animals
- SPCA:
-
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
References
APCRI., 2003. Association for prevention and control of rabies in India (APCRI). Assessing burden of rabies in India. A national multicentric survey, progress report, (http://rabies.org.in/rabies/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/whosurvey.pdf.)
Chd-Adm., 2009. Vaccination done by Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department, Chandigarh Administration, (http://www.chdanimalhusbandry.gov.in/vaccination.htm)
Clark, K.A. and Wilson, P.J., 1996. Postexposure rabies prophylaxis and preexposure rabies vaccination failure in domestic animals, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 208, 1827–1830
Hanlon, C.A., Kuzmin, I.V., Blanton, J.D., Weldon, W.C., Manangan, J.S. and Rupprecht, C.E., 2005. Efficacy of rabies biologics against new lyssaviruses from Eurasia, Virus Research, 111, 44–54
Kamoltham, T., Singhsa, J., Promsaranee, U., Sonthon, P., Mathean, P. and Thinyounyong, W., 2003. Elimination of human rabies in a canine endemic province in Thailand: five-year programme, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 81
Kasempimolporn, S., Sichanasai, B., Saengseesom, W., Puempumpanich, S., Chatraporn, S. and Sitprija, V., 2007. Prevalence of rabies virus infection and rabies antibody in stray dogs: a survey in Bangkok, Thailand, Preventive Veterinary Medicine, 78, 325–332
Kumarapeli, V. and Awerbuch-Friedlander, T., 2009. Human rabies focusing on dog ecology—A challenge to public health in Sri Lanka, Acta Tropica, 112, 33–37
Ogawa, T., Gamoh, K., Kanda, K., Suzuki, T., Kawashima, A., Narushima, R. and Shimazaki, T., 2009. Rabies immune status of dogs brought into the Hyogo Prefecture Animal Well-being Center, Japan, The Journal of Veterinary Medical Science, 71, 825–826
Servat, A., Wasniewski, M. and Cliquet, F., 2006. Tools for rabies serology to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccination in domestic and wild carnivores, Developmental Biology (Basel), 125, 91–94
Servat, A., Feyssaguet, M., Blanchard, I., Morize, J.L., Schereffer, J.L., Boue, F. and Cliquet, F., 2007. A quantitative indirect ELISA to monitor the effectiveness of rabies vaccination in domestic and wild carnivores, Journal of Immunological Methods, 318, 1–10
Sudarshan, M.K., Madhusudana, S.N., Mahendra, B.J., Rao, N.S., Ashwath Narayana, D.H., Abdul Rahman, S., Meslin, F.X., Lobo, D., Ravikumar, K. and Gangaboraiah, 2007. Assessing the burden of human rabies in India: results of a national multi-center epidemiological survey, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 11, 29–35
Welch, R.J., Anderson, B.L. and Litwin, C.M., 2009. An evaluation of two commercially available ELISAs and one in-house reference laboratory ELISA for the determination of human anti-rabies virus antibodies, Journal of Medical Microbiology, 58, 806–810
WHO., 1999. World survey of rabies for the year 1997, (http://www.who.int/docstore/wer/pdf/1999/wer7445.pdf.)
WHO., 2005. World Health Organization expert committee on rabies, (http://www.who.int/rabies/trs931_%2006_05.pdf)
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to Department of Science Technology, Chandigarh for sponsoring the present study. We are extremely grateful to Dr. AVS Kohli, Joint Director, Animal Husbandry, Chandigarh, and Dr. Gopal Krishna, SPCA, Sector 38 for helping in the collection of samples from pet and street dogs, respectively.
Ethical standards
The study was approved by the Institute Animal Ethics Committee as per the National Guidelines.
Declaration of interest
The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Singh, M.P., Goyal, K., Majumdar, M. et al. Prevalence of rabies antibodies in street and household dogs in Chandigarh, India. Trop Anim Health Prod 43, 111–114 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-010-9661-8
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-010-9661-8