Antibody response to Raboral VR-G® oral rabies vaccine in captive and free-ranging black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas)

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Antibody response to Raboral VR-G® oral rabies vaccine in captive and free-ranging black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas)
 
Creator Koeppel, Katja N. Geertsma, Peter Kuhn, Brian F. van Schalkwyk, Ockert L. Thompson, Peter N.
 
Subject Veterinary; wildlife; epidemiology black-backed jackal; Canis mesomelas; oral bait; rabies; South Africa; vaccination
Description Rabies is a zoonotic disease that remains endemic in large parts of southern Africa because of its persistence in wildlife and domestic dog vectors. The black-backed jackals (Canis mesomelas) is primarily the wildlife vector responsible for rabies outbreaks in northern parts of South Africa. Two trials were carried out to investigate antibody responses to the oral rabies vaccine Raboral V-RG® in black-backed jackals under captive and free-ranging conditions. In captive jackals 10/12 (83%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 52% – 98%), seroconverted after single oral vaccination. Nine captive jackals had protective antibody titres ( 0.5 IU/mL) at 4 weeks (median: 2.1 IU/mL; inter quartile range [IQR]: 0.6–5.7) and 10 jackals had at 12 weeks (median: 3.5 IU/mL; IQR: 1.5–8.3) and three maintained antibody titres for up to 48 weeks (median: 3.4 IU/mL; IQR: 2.0–6.3). Four sites were baited with Raboral V-RG® vaccine for wild jackals, using fishmeal polymer and chicken heads. Baits were distributed by hand or from vehicle at three sites in north-eastern South Africa, with an average baiting density of 4.4 baits/km2 and at one site in central South Africa, at 0.12 baits/km2. This resulted in protective antibody titres in 3/11 jackals (27%; 95% Cl: 6–61) trapped between 3 and 12 months after baiting in north-eastern South Africa, compared with 4/7 jackals (57%; 95% Cl: 18–90) trapped after 3–18 months in central South Africa. This study shows the potential utility of oral rabies vaccination for the control of wildlife-associated rabies in north-eastern and central South Africa, but extensive studies with wider distribution of bait are needed to assess its potential impact on rabies control in wild jackals.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor South African Veterinary Association Wildlife Group
Date 2022-02-10
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — research study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/ojvr.v89i1.1975
 
Source Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research; Vol 89, No 1 (2022); 9 pages 2219-0635 0030-2465
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1975/2345 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1975/2346 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1975/2347 https://ojvr.org/index.php/ojvr/article/view/1975/2348
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa current wildlife, jackal
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Katja N. Koeppel, Peter Geertsma, Brian F. Kuhn, Ockert L. van Schalkwyk, Peter N. Thompson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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