Social and behavioral factors of Rabies
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Social and Behavioral Factors of Rabies
Roxanne Evans
Concordia University Nebraska
MPH 500
Dr. Rebecca Toland
Social and behavioral factors of Rabies
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Victims of rabies are usually children under the age of 15 who have little fear in approaching
rabid animals (McGrath, 2014). Education of children and adults in all countries regarding how
rabies is spread and what can be done to avoid exposure would drastically reduce the number of
individuals exposed to the rabies virus. Additionally, eduacation on wound care after a bite of
scratch from an animal, would also dramatically reduce the the likelihood of disease in people
not able to reviece post-exposure vaccination (Rabies, 2014).
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control is tying to improve rabies education in poor countries,
where post exposure vaccination is financially unavailable. In these areas dogs are the most
likely source of infections to humans. There are also programs trying to vaccinate dogs for the
rabies virus in hopes of preventing disease in humans as has been done in the United States.
(Rabies' Victims, 2014).
In the United States, rabies exposure is most commonlly from wild animals, such as foxes,
skunks, raccoons, and, predominantly, bats (Rabies around the World, 2011). This has changed
from dogs and cats because of state laws requiring rabies vaccinations of all dogs and cats
(Administration of Rabies Vaccination State Laws, 2014). This creates protection to the greater
population of humans across the country since pets are more likely to interact with wild animals
and be exposed to rabies. In this sense, people of the US are relying on herd immunity created
from our pets (Schneider, 2014).
For those individuals who are at higher risk of contracting rabies, veterinarians, cavers, and
travelers to poor countries with high stray dog populations, pre-exposure vaccinations are
recommended (Gibbons, Holman, Mosberg, & Rupprecht, 2002). However, even in the United
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States cost of human rabies vaccination is expensive and often not covered by insurance which
limits the number of at-risk people who are protected (Trevejo, 2000).
If pre-exposure vaccination were more affordable, more individual who were at high risk for
contracting the virus would choose to be vaccinated. This may then reduce the number of postexposure prophylaxis required and lower the financial burden on insurance companies (Vaidya,
et al., 2010). Annually, approximately 29 million people receive the post-exposure prophylaxsis
treatment for rabies exposure, which costs an estimated 2.1 billion US dollars (Rabies, 2014).
Currently, the CDC rabies program raises money and helps organize vaccination programs for
dogs in rabies endemic areas. They also use funds to help pay for post-exposure prophylaxis
when people are exsposed and unable to afford treatment. Lastly, they eduate children about the
risk of rabies and how to protect themselves from contracting the virus. (Rabies Prevention in
Developing Countries, 2014)
Education should also include the communities in rural or poor countries regarding ways to
protect dogs from contracting the virus. This would included preventing stray animals from
being on their property and keeping their own animals supravised when outside (Haupt, 1999).
Rabies is 100% preventable (Rabies around the World, 2011). It is important for governments to
involved in dissemination of information and vaccination to those at risk. If other contries were
able to disseminate dog vaccination, which is drastically cheaper than human vaccination,
creating herd immunity in rurual and poor areas, there could be a striking drop in the number of
human deaths from rabies around the world. It might even mirror the US where there are, on
average, a couple of deaths from rabies annually (Rabies, 2014).
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References
Administration of Rabies Vaccination State Laws. (2014, August). Retrieved from American
Veterinary Medical Association:
https://www.avma.org/Advocacy/StateAndLocal/Pages/rabies-vaccination.aspx
Gibbons, R. V., Holman, R. C., Mosberg, S. R., & Rupprecht, C. E. (2002, May). Knowledge of
Bat Rabies and Human Exposure Among United States Cavers. Emerging Infectious
Disease, 8(5), 532-534. doi:10.3201/eid0805.010290
Haupt, W. (1999, March 26). Rabies - risk of exposure and current trends in prevention of human
cases. Vaccine, 17(13-14), 1742-9. doi:10.1016/s0264-410x(98)00447-2
McGrath, M. (2014, May 26). Experts' anger over 'invisible' rabies death toll. Retrieved
September 12, 2014, from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment27538721
Rabies. (2014). Retrieved September 2, 2014, from World Health Organization:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/
Rabies around the World. (2011, April 22). Retrieved September 2, 2014, from Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention:
http://www.cdc.gov/rabies/location/world/index.html?s_cid=cs_521
Rabies Prevention in Developing Countries. (2014). Retrieved from CDC Foundation:
http://www.cdcfoundation.org/rabies
Rabies' Victims. (2014). Retrieved from Global Alliance for Rabies Control:
http://rabiesalliance.org/rabies/rabies-and-children/
Schneider, M.-J. (2014). Introduction to Public Health (4th ed.). Burlington, Massachusetts:
Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Trevejo, R. (2000, December 1). Rabies preexposure vaccination among veterinarians and at-risk
staff. Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association, 217(11), 1647-1650.
Retrieved from
https://www.avma.org/News/Journals/Collections/Documents/javma_217_11_1647.pdf
Vaidya, S. A., Manning, S. E., Dhankhar, P., Meltzer, M. I., Rupprecht, C., Hull, H. F., &
Fishbein, D. B. (2010). Estimating the risk of rabies transmission to humans in the U.S.:
dephi analysis. BMC Public Health, 10(278). doi:10.1186/1471-2458-10-278
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