Scientists in Côte d’Ivoire contributed to the adoption of a new World Health Organization (WHO) cost-effective protocol for eliminating rabies that reduces the number of shots a patient has to take by half. Andree Prisca Ndjoug Ndour, a postdoctoral trainee with Afrique One- ASPIRE, was of the 20 researchers in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Chad who took part in a collaborative public-private partnership (Rabies project of Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI), GSK, WHO). Afrique One ASPRE is one of the 12 programmes funded through DELTAS Africa, a scheme of The African Academy of Sciences. Implemented with the support of Wellcome and DFID.
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At a glance
A trial that ran in 2016-2017 in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Chad involving 8,000 households per country, dog bite victims from selected health facilities and rabid dogs from veterinary services.
The trial tested the feasibility and the cost-effectiveness of the intradermal (ID) protocol, a new treatment schedule, which requires rabies patients to take 2 shots of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
It found the new treatment regime to reduce the amount of treatment needed by 80%, thereby making it safe, immunogenic and cost-effective.
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Trialing a new protocol for treating rabies
The scientists conducted a trial that ran in 2016-2017 in Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Chad involving 8,000 households per country, dog bite victims from selected health facilities and rabid dogs from veterinary services. The trial tested the feasibility and the cost-effectiveness of the intradermal (ID) protocol, a new treatment schedule, which requires rabies patients to take 2 shots of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
Successful results
It found the new treatment regime to reduce the amount of treatment needed by 80%, thereby making it safe, immunogenic and cost-effective. In comparison, the current Intramuscular (IM) PEP treatment schedule requires patients to take four injections, which causes most people to not follow through with the treatment because of associated costs. About 60,000 patients die of rabies annually in Africa and Asia every year. Rabies is a zoonosis, a disease that is transmitted from animals to humans, that is caused by a virus and is known to be present in more than 150 countries and territories of all continents except Antarctica. Rabies virus infects domestic and wild animals and is spread to people through close contact with infected animals’ saliva via bites or scratches.
Filling critical gaps
The project also fills the information gap on rabies in West and Central Africa, especially in terms of rabies pea, population estimates, and the need for PEP. All of this data is fundamental to the development of an integrated rabies control strategy for its elimination by 2030.
