Special Issue

Topic: Adopt One Health, Stop Rabies: Current Progress for Dog-mediated Rabies Elimination by 2030

A Special Issue of One Health & Implementation Research

ISSN 2769-6413 (Online)

Submission deadline: 19 Apr 2024

Guest Editor

Prof. Dr. Charles E. Rupprecht

Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.

Special Issue Introduction

Special Issue Webinar I: https://www.oaepublish.com/webinars/ohir.75

Special Issue Webinar II: https://www.oaepublish.com/webinars/ohir.223

Rabies is an acute, progressive, viral encephalitis. This zoonosis is one of the oldest recognized infectious diseases but remains neglected despite a global distribution. Although all mammals are believed susceptible, the domestic dog is the major reservoir. Having a case fatality approaching unity, humans still succumb today due to major health disparities, particularly in lesser developed nations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. During 2015, the FAO, OIE and WHO recognized the need for a focused One Health approach, dedicated towards the elimination of human rabies by 2030. The 'Zero by Thirty' (ZBT) focuses upon the combination of stopping human fatalities after the bite of a rabid dog by the administration of modern postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) and viral prevention at the source by the mass vaccination of dogs (MVD). This Special Issue of One Health & Implementation Research (OHIR) showcases the progress over the past decade, anticipates continued success, discusses current limitations, and highlights future opportunities expected. Enhanced laboratory-based rabies surveillance, improved PEP regimens, better community engagement, technology for monitoring MVD success, oral vaccination for free-ranging dogs, creation of local champions, prioritization with relevant governance, inter-sectoral collaboration with regional partners, and engagement of global stakeholders are a few of the topical areas of relevance for consideration. Recognizing the trans-disciplinary nature of this arena, we invite all animal control officers, anthropologists, diagnosticians, economists, epidemiologists, historians, modelers, physicians, policy makers, veterinarians, virologists, wildlife biologists, etc. with a passion for achieving the ZBT to communicate their work in OHIR.