Fifty Years of the National Rabies Control Program in Brazil under the One Health Perspective.

In 1973, the National Rabies Program was created in Brazil through an agreement between the Ministry of Health and Agriculture. Since its beginning, it developed integrated action through access to free post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for people at risk, dog vaccination campaigns, a joint surveillance system, and awareness. This study aims to describe human rabies in Brazil under the One Health perspective in recent decades, including achievements in the control of dog-mediated cases and challenges in human cases transmitted by wild animals.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Sylvatic Rabies among High-Risk Households in Ceará State, Brazil.

Rabies transmitted by sylvatic populations has become an increasing concern in Brazil. A total of 113 participants with a history of contact with sylvatic populations were interviewed in 27 municipalities of Ceará State in northeast Brazil. Questionnaires included questions on knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding sylvatic rabies.

Rabies in Callithrix sp. in the urban area of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In Brazil, rabies occurs mainly within an urban cycle, in which dogs and bats are reservoirs. This paper aims to report the occurrence of rabies in Callithrix sp. in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Increased detection of rabies virus in bats in Ceará State (Northeast Brazil) after implementation of a passive surveillance programme.

The intensification of dog, cat and livestock vaccination campaigns significantly reduced rabies cases in humans and domestic animals in Ceará State, Brazil. However, sylvatic animals-bats (order Chiroptera), wild canids, raccoons and non-human primates- remain as reservoirs for the virus. Our hypothesis is that surveillance and monitoring of rabies virus in bats, especially passive surveillance, is of fundamental importance, besides the implementation of health education and strengthening of surveillance actions in humans exposed to aggressions.

[Risks of transmitting rabies virus from captive domiciliary common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) to human beings, in the metropolitan region of Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil].

Introduction: In the State of Ceará, a new variant of the rabies virus was identified associated with cases of human rabies transmitted by common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), which are frequently kept as pets. This new variant does not present antigenic proximity or genetic relationship to variants of the virus isolated from bats and terrestrial mammals from the American continent. The present study aimed to evaluate the risk factors of rabies virus transmission from common marmosets (C.

Rabies transmitted by vampire bats to humans: an emerging zoonotic disease in Latin America?

Human rabies transmitted by vampire bats reached new heights in Latin America in 2005. A total of 55 human cases were reported in several outbreaks, 41 of them in the Amazon region of Brazil. Peru and Brazil had the highest number of reported cases from 1975 to 2006.

Potency evaluation of rabies vaccine for human use: the impact of the reduction in the number of animals per dilution.

In order to evaluate the effects of reducing the number of animals used in the NIH mouse protection test for potency determination of inactivated rabies vaccines for human use, a retrospective study of the results obtained in the Brazilian National Control Laboratory, Instituto Nacional de Controle de Qualidade em Saúde (INCQS), was performed, comprising 214 vaccine lots. The INCQS Standard Operating Procedure establishes the use of three vaccine dilutions and 18 animals per dilution, separated into two cages with 9 mice each. The results of the two cages of each dilution were considered as two different groups (C1 and C2), and therefore, for each vaccine lot, three results were obtained: one for the standard test (ST) with 18 mice, one using the C1 cages with 9 mice and another using the C2 cages with 9 mice.

[Report on natural infection of bats by trypanosomatid flagellates in different municipalities in the State of Rio de Janeiro].

This study aimed to evaluate natural infection of bats by trypanosomatids. Using blood culturing, 86 specimens from different genera were examined, and 22 samples (25.58%) of Desmodus rotundus and Lonchorhina aurita were isolated.

Validation of a virus neutralization potency test in BHK-21 cells for rabies immunoglobulins in a two-center study.

A rabies virus neutralization potency test (VNPT), adapted to microplates from the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT) for rabies therapeutic immunoglobulin potency evaluation, was standardized and validated in a two-center study in Brazil. The two institutes involved in the study were: Instituto Nacional de Controle de Qualidade em Saúde (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz) and Instituto Butantan. Two equine rabies immunoglobulin samples, all diluted to 1IU/ml, were tested against the WHO 2nd Rabies Human Ig International Standard.