Odinga Christian O, Thomas Lian F, Wambugu Evalyne, Ferguson Adam W, Fèvre Eric M, Gibson Andy, Hassell James M, Muloi Dishon M, Murray Suzan, Surmat Andrea, Mwai Peter M, Woodroffe Rosie, Ngatia Dedan, Gathura Peter M, Waitumbi John, Worsley-Tonks Katherine E L
International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Washington, DC, USA.
Zoonoses Public Health. 2025 Mar;72(2):194-199. doi: 10.1111/zph.13193. Epub 2024 Dec 2.
Rabies vaccination in domestic dog populations has increased globally in a bid to protect human health. Surveillance efforts, however, are inconsistent in endemic regions such as in sub-Saharan Africa, due to fragmented reporting and limited diagnostic capacity for suspected cases, limiting successful monitoring and evaluation of vaccination campaigns. Here, we conducted a pilot study aiming to strengthen rabies surveillance by combining community-based surveillance with field-based diagnostic testing in pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in central Kenya; communities which are frequently marginalised from health systems. During the 6-month pilot study, there were 14 alerts of suspected rabid dogs in the community, of which eight were tested and five diagnostically confirmed as rabid. Two positive samples processed successfully for whole genome sequencing indicated that the rabies variant circulating in central Kenya during the study period belonged to the Africa 1b subclade, which is similar to variants identified in eastern Kenya and Tanzania, suggesting regional transmission. This pilot study indicates that rabies continues to circulate in the region and that community-based surveillance, when combined with enhanced diagnostic testing, can help alleviate underreporting and guide vaccination campaigns.
为保护人类健康，全球家犬群体中的狂犬病疫苗接种率有所提高。然而，在撒哈拉以南非洲等狂犬病流行地区，由于报告零散且疑似病例的诊断能力有限，监测工作并不一致，这限制了疫苗接种运动的成功监测与评估。在此，我们开展了一项试点研究，旨在通过将基于社区的监测与肯尼亚中部牧区和农牧结合区的现场诊断检测相结合，加强狂犬病监测；这些社区往往被排除在卫生系统之外。在为期6个月的试点研究中，社区中有14起疑似狂犬病犬的警报，其中8只接受了检测，5只经诊断确认为狂犬病。成功处理的两份用于全基因组测序的阳性样本表明，研究期间在肯尼亚中部传播的狂犬病变种属于非洲1b亚分支，这与在肯尼亚东部和坦桑尼亚发现的变种相似，表明存在区域传播。这项试点研究表明，狂犬病在该地区仍在传播，基于社区的监测与强化诊断检测相结合，有助于减少漏报并指导疫苗接种运动。
