Detection of lyssavirus antigen and antibody levels among apparently healthy and suspected rabid dogs in South-Eastern Nigeria

Abstract

ObjectivesDomestic dogs are the main reservoir of rabies virus (RABV) infection in Nigeria, thus surveillance of rabies in dog populations is crucial in order to understand the patterns of spread of infection and ultimately devise an appropriate rabies control strategy. This study determined the presence of lyssavirus antigen in brain tissues and anti-rabies antibodies in sera of apparently healthy and suspected-rabid dogs slaughtered for human consumption at local markets in South-Eastern Nigeria.ResultsOur findings demonstrated that 8.3% (n = 23) of brain tissues were lyssavirus positive and 2.5% (n = 25) of sera had rabies antibody levels as percentage blocking of 70% and above correlating with a cut-off value ≥ 0.5 IU/mL in the fluorescent antibody neutralization test. There was an inverse correlation between lyssavirus positivity and rabies antibody levels confirming that infected individuals most often do not develop virus neutralizing antibodies to the disease. The low percentage of rabies antibodies in this dog population suggests a susceptible population at high risk to RABV infection. These findings highlight a huge challenge to national rabies programs and subsequent elimination of the disease from Nigeria, considering that majority of dogs are confined to rural communal areas, where parenteral dog vaccination is not routinely undertaken.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-4024-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Incidence and seroprevalence of rabies virus in humans, dogs and other animal species in Africa, a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…1 , Supplementary Table 4 ). A group of 73 articles corresponding to 142 incidence data was finally selected for this review [ [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] , [75] , [76] , [77] , [78] , [79] , [80] , ...…”

“…The 40 articles (42 incidence data) in dogs with active infection ( N = 15,600 participants) reported incidence ranging from 0 to 100% with a meta-incidence of 44.1% (95% CI: 35.1–53.4) ( Fig. 4 ) [ 18 , [20] , [21] , [22] , 25 , 28 , 33 , 36 , 40 , 41 , 43 , [45] , [46] , [47] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , 59 , 61 , 62 , 65 , 66 , 70 , 75 , 76 , 78 , [80] , [81] , [82] , [83] , [84] , [85] , [86] , [87] , 89 , 90 ]. RABV meta-incidence in dogs with evidence of active RABV infection ranged from 0% in wild dogs to 86.3% in suspected rabid stray dogs.…”

“…The 15 articles (21 seroprevalence data) in dogs with past exposure ( N = 3577 participants) reported seroprevalence ranging from 0 to 80% with a meta-seroprevalence of 19.8% (95% CI: 13.3–27.3) ( Supplementary Fig. 1 ) [ 19 , 32 , 35 , 38 , 41 , 42 , 64 , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , 73 , 74 , 77 , 80 ]. RABV meta-seroprevalence in dogs with evidence of past exposure ranged from 4.9% in wild dogs to 28.4% in unspecified dogs.…”

Quantifying and mapping the burden of human and animal rabies in Iraq

“…Although clinical data are not available for these culled dogs, this proportion is similar to that in found-dead dogs in rabies endemic regions [ 25 ] but higher than that previously reported for apparently healthy dogs in other endemic regions. For example, a maximum of 5% positive was demonstrated in Nigeria, and researchers could not confirm the health status of the animals [ 26 ]. The reason for the apparently high proportion of rabid dogs among the culled sample is not known but culling process may have been biased toward aggressive or sick dogs.…”

Can Rabies Infection have an Abortive Phase? Need for Further Evidence to Understand Rabies Epidemiology

“…8 Another study observed an inverse relationship between the presence of lyssavirus antigens and levels of rabies antibodies in unvaccinated dogs that underscores the notion of immune evasion following lyssavirus infection. 9 In another study by Vaughn et al 10 , thirteen groups totaling 117 dogs were inoculated with the rabies virus and 54 dogs developed fatal rabies (49%) pointing out abortive clinical infection after actual virus inoculation.…”