Rabies is still an important zoonosis in many developing countries. The post-exposure treatment (the only way to save infected people) is expensive and often not available. On demand by Chadian authorities a partnership between the Swiss Tropical Institute with the Laboratoire de Recherches Vétérinaires et Zootechnique de Farcha and the Centre de Support en Santé International au Tchad was established. Thereby, a rabies laboratory with an immunofluorescence microscope was installed and a demographic study was organised in N'Djaména, the capital of Chad. In a pilot parenteral vaccination campaign, it was demonstrated that the proportion of ownerless dogs was below 10% and that vaccination coverage of 70% could be achieved. Our present research question is: What is the best and most cost-effective strategy to eliminate rabies in N‘Djaména, Chad? We hypothesize, that periodical parenteral vaccination of the dog populations is probably the most cost-effective, acceptable and feasible method to control rabies in urban settings of African cities.
The aim of the study in Tanzania is to describe the demography, spatial distribution, behaviour and accessibility of urban domestic dogs and local dog-management, in order to assess the importance and influence of these factors on transmission as well as control of rabies, and eventually to help finding easily applicable methods to achieve a well designed and community fitted rabies-control. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh and with the Sokoine University, Morogoro, and the fieldwork was done in Iringa from April to December 2004.
