Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to determine the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of rabies management and control of a sample population. The secondary objective was to compare the KAP with respect to rabies management and control between urban and rural areas and between pet and non-pet owners.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out by conducting face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires among 1570 respondents from selected households in the Kandy District, Sri Lanka.Results: Approximately 58% of the sample population was pet owners. Among all the respondents, there was a high level of awareness (90%) that dogs are the most common rabies reservoir, that the disease is fatal (79%), and that rabies can be prevented by vaccination (88%). Most of the subjects (96%) would seek treatment from a doctor or a hospital after being bitten by a dog. Although 76% of the respondents said that their pet dogs were vaccinated, only one-half were able to present a vaccination certificate upon request. The subjects from the urban areas would submit the head of an animal for rabies evaluation (69%) compared with those from the rural areas (57%). Pet owners (93%) are more aware that dog rabies vaccines are available from authorized offices than non-pet owners (87%).Conclusions: The level of awareness of rabies and the level of receptiveness to rabies control measures are high. There is a difference in the attitudes and pet care practices relevant to rabies control between urban and rural areas. Pet owners tend to be more cooperative to rabies control activities. The attitudes and practices of the respondents may reflect the inaccessibility of facilities and the lack of services that would enable community participation in rabies control.
Fifty-seven young buffaloes were experimentally infected or naturally exposed to haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS). Of these animals 32 became immune carriers. They were observed in groups for periods up to 360 days to monitor the appearance of pasteurellae in the nasopharynx and antibody status. In most animals pasteurellae appeared in the nasopharynx for a short period initially and disappeared. The organism reappeared intermittently and the longest observed period of reappearance was 215 days after exposure. All animals showed rising antibody titres with a peak lasting for 150 to 180 days and declining thereafter. Pasteurellae persisted in the tonsils and were isolated from 20 out of 27 carriers after slaughter. The longest period when isolation was made after slaughter was 229 days. The organism lodged in the tonsils was unaffected by antibacterial therapy using drugs to which the organism displayed in vitro sensitivity. It is concluded that in HS, carrier animals exist in an active as well as a latent state, the former appearing for short intermittent periods between long latent periods, when pasteurellae continue to remain in the tonsils which constitute a long-term reservoir.
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