Lyssaviruses are bullet-shaped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses and the causative agents of the ancient zoonosis rabies. Africa is the likely home to the ancestors of taxa residing within the Genus , Family . Diverse lyssaviruses are envisioned as co-evolving with bats, as the ultimate reservoirs, over seemingly millions of years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe World Health Organization reports that over 60,000 humans die of rabies annually, worldwide. Most occur in remote regions of developing countries. Almost all victims received no postexposure rabies prophylaxis (PEP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhilos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
August 2013
Despite perceived challenges to controlling an infectious disease in wildlife, oral rabies vaccination (ORV) of foxes has proved a remarkably successful tool and a prime example of a sophisticated strategy to eliminate disease from wildlife reservoirs. During the past three decades, the implementation of ORV programmes in 24 countries has led to the elimination of fox-mediated rabies from vast areas of Western and Central Europe. In this study, we evaluated the efficiency of 22 European ORV programmes between 1978 and 2010.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis
May 2013
Surveillance is a critical component of disease control programmes but is often poorly resourced, particularly in developing countries lacking good infrastructure and especially for zoonoses which require combined veterinary and medical capacity and collaboration. Here we examine how successful control, and ultimately disease elimination, depends on effective surveillance. We estimated that detection probabilities of <0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs the demand for rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatments has increased exponentially in recent years, the limited supply of human and equine rabies immunoglobulin (HRIG and ERIG) has failed to provide the required passive immune component in PEP in countries where canine rabies is endemic. Replacement of HRIG and ERIG with a potentially cheaper and efficacious alternative biological for treatment of rabies in humans, therefore, remains a high priority. In this study, we set out to assess a mouse monoclonal antibody (MoMAb) cocktail with the ultimate goal to develop a product at the lowest possible cost that can be used in developing countries as a replacement for RIG in PEP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany new, emerging and re-emerging diseases of humans are caused by pathogens that originate from animals or products of animal origin. A wide variety of both domestic and wild animal species act as reservoirs for these pathogens, which may be viruses, bacteria or parasites. Given the extensive distribution of the animal species affected, the effective surveillance, prevention and control of zoonotic diseases pose a significant challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The authors studied the predictive value of six criteria for clinical diagnosis of rabies in living dogs.
Design: Identify and test the criteria in a retrospective and prospective study.
Material And Method: Both studies were conducted at the Rabies Diagnostic Unit, Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok.
Surveillance and control of emerging bacterial zoonoses is essential in order to prevent both human and animal deaths and to avoid potential economic disorders created by trade barriers or a ban on free circulation of human or animal populations. An increased risk of exposition to zoonotic agents, the breakdown of the host's defenses, the emergence of bacterial strains resistant to antibiotics and their widespread distribution as well as conjunctural causes associated with the action or inaction of man have been identified as the main factors leading to the emergence or re-emergence of bacterial zoonoses. After an in-depth review of these various factors, the present manuscript reviews the main components of detection and surveillance of emerging or re-emerging bacterial zoonoses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlores is an isolated previously rabies-free Indonesian island which has been experiencing a canine rabies outbreak which resulted in at least 113 human deaths. It started with the importation of three dogs from rabies endemic Sulawesi in September of 1997. Local authorities responded with massive killing of dogs starting in early 1998.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA total of 1820 dogs and 332 cats that appeared ill or had bitten humans or animals were observed for >or=10 days. Of these, 957 dogs and 94 cats that were confirmed to be rabid survived <10 days after admission to our institution. This study supports current recommendations that dogs and cats that are suspected of being rabid should be euthanized and examined or, if this is inappropriate, confined and observed for 10 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTaenia solium cysticercosis, and its public health and economic consequences, appears to be a growing problem in poor areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America where people eat pork and traditional pig husbandry is practiced (and expanding). Its burden is counted in terms of human disease (mainly neurocysticercosis related epilepsy) and economic losses, in a context of both commercial and traditional subsistence pig farming. Although substantial fragmentary information seems to be available from local settings, national and global burdens due to T.
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