Serological Evidence of Canine Rabies and Dog Owners’ Response about the Disease in Selected Veterinary Clinics within Jos Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

Canine rabies is endemic in Nigeria as evident by several reports, however, it is a vaccine preventable disease in both animals and man. Dog owners’ knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward rabies is instrumental to a successful rabies prevention and control measures against transmission. This study determined the prevalence of rabies antibodies in owned dogs and assessed KAPof dog owners toward rabies in Jos Metropolis, Nigeria in a cross sectional study conducted between January, 2019 and March, 2019. Sera from 100 dog blood samples were collected but only 92 samples were subjected to Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) using Rabies Virus IgG Ab (DEMEDITEC Diagnostics GmbH, Lise-Meitner Strase 2, 24145 Kiel, Germany). Zoographic data obtained showed 61 (66.3%) dogs sampled were female, the dogs were kept majorly for security (n=54) and breeding (n=28). Vaccination records revealed that 13 (14.1%) of the dogs were not vaccinated against rabies. Analysis revealed good KAP scores of the dog owners at 75%, 95% and 95%, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between qualification (no formal education) and categorised attitude scores (P = 0.003) also between no formal education and categorised practice scores (P = 0.026). In conclusion, majority (93.5%) of the dogs tested had rabies antibodies which may indicate previous vaccination. Although dog owners KAP were good, majority (62%) were ignorant that rabies has no cure. Public health awareness on the dangers of rabies and annual dog anti-rabies vaccination toward elimination of dog-mediated human rabies, still needs to be intensified and sustained.