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
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Abbreviations
- ELISA:
-
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
- PFA:
-
People for animals
- SPCA:
-
Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- WHO:
-
World Health Organization
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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.
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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
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-010-9661-8