Identification of risk factors on rabies vaccine efficacy from censored data: Pre-travel tests for dogs and cats from Yaoundé (2005-2015).

Little research is available on acquired immunity to rabies in dogs and cats from Central Africa, particularly regarding the legal movements of pets. Movement of domestic animals from rabies-endemic countries like Cameroon to rabies free areas poses one of the main risks for rabies introduction into rabies-free areas. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of various risk factors on rabies vaccine efficacy in Cameroonian. Since the dependent variable, rabies neutralizing titres, were censored from above (right-censoring), Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) was used in the analysis. Overall, 85.7% of dogs and 100% of cats had titres greater than or equal to 0.5 IU/mL, which is considered protective. Additionally, compared to cats, the value of the rabies-neutralizing serum titres in dogs was on average smaller by 2.3 IU/mL. For each additional year of age, the value of the rabies-neutralizing serum titre, on average, increased by approximately 0.14 IU/mL. Finally, for each 30 additional days between the date of the last rabies vaccination and the date of the sampling, the value the rabies neutralizing titre, on average, decreased by approximately 0.10 IU/mL, given the species and age at sampling were equivalent. These results are useful for assessing risk and improving surveillance to prevent the introduction of rabies into a country via the international movement of animals.