Detection of rabies virus specific antibody in stray dogs in Palestine

Stray dogs are considered as a major public health risk in rabies-endemic countries such as Palestine. The objective of the present study was to assess the presence of antibody against rabies in stray dogs in order to estimate the immune status of stray dogs for the purpose of risk management. The present study reports the first investigation for the detection of specific antibodies to rabies virus (RABV) in the serum of stray dogs in Palestine. The serum samples were collected randomly from 92 stray dogs from different seven Palestinian districts and were tested for the presence of antirabies antibodies by ELISA. Only 11.95% of stray dogs (n=11) had protective immune status against rabies with antirabies antibody titer (>0.5 IU) according to World Health Organization criteria. This result suggest that there is a high potential for reintroduction of canine rabies into stray dogs, leading to rabies transmission to human. Therefore, a new strategy to enable a broader vaccination coverage in stray dogs in conjunction with control breeding of these dogs must be launched to reduce the risk for transmitting rabies to human.