Oral Vaccination Campaigns of Dogs against Rabies

Effective control of terrestrial wildlife rabies seemed almost impossible in Europe until the development of oral vaccination. Nowadays, oral vaccination of foxes (Vulpes vulpes) by distributing vaccine baits is the method of choice in rabies control in most European countries. Consequently, large areas are now rabies-free and here baits are no longer distributed or the distribution of baits is limited to border regions in order to prevent re-infection. Hence, this successful method has also been suggested for dog rabies control. Especially, in countries where a large segment of the dog population is not accessible for vaccination by the traditional parenteral route. Next to a safe and efficacious vaccine virus and attractive bait, a bait distribution system is required that assures bait availability to the target species, the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), meanwhile minimizing bait accessibility to non-target species, including humans. The latter constraint is essential, because of the safety concerns associated with the presently available oral rabies vaccine viruses. All licensed products are live viruses, live-modified or recombinants, therefore certain safety risks are associated with their use. Dogs live in close proximity of humans, thus unintentional direct or indirect human contact with the vaccine virus cannot be completely ruled out.