Rabies is one of the most lethal infectious diseases, with those living in Asia and Africa having the highest risk of dying from rabies. We conducted a knowledge, attitudes and practices survey in urban and peri-urban areas of Bangladesh to describe canine bite rates, rabies knowledge, and healthcare seeking behaviors and barriers to human and dog vaccination. A bite risk assessment score (BRAS) and healthcare-seeking behavior score (HSBS) was calculated for each bite victim. Respondents were given two hypothetical situations to assess potential behaviors after a bite and willingness to pay for rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin. In total, 2,447 households participated in the survey and 85 bite victims were identified. The BRAS identified that 31% of bites posed no risk of rabies transmission. Multivariate analyses showed that living in Chittagong (β = 1.4; 95% CI: 0.1, 2.7) was associated with a higher HSBS. Findings presented here provide useful information regarding bite occurrences, healthcare-seeking behaviors, and a need for strategies to increase rabies awareness.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a highly fatal zoonotic disease endemic to Kazakhstan. Previous work estimated the seroprevalence of CCHF virus (CCHFV) among livestock owners in the Zhambyl region of southern Kazakhstan at 1.2%. To estimate CCHFV seroprevalence among cattle and sheep, we selected 15 villages with known history of CCHFV circulation (endemic) and 15 villages without known circulation (nonendemic) by cluster sampling with probability proportional to livestock population size. We collected whole blood samples from 521 sheep and 454 cattle from randomly selected households within each village and collected ticks found on the animals. We tested livestock blood for CCHFV-specific IgG antibodies by ELISA; ticks were screened for CCHFV RNA by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and CCHFV antigen by antigen-capture ELISA. We administered questionnaires covering animal demographics and livestock herd characteristics to an adult in each selected household. Overall weighted seroprevalence was 5.7% (95% CI: 3.1, 10.3) among sheep and 22.5% (95% CI: 15.8, 31.2) among cattle. CCHFV-positive tick pools were found on two sheep (2.4%, 95% CI: 0.6, 9.5) and three cattle (3.8%, 95% CI: 1.2, 11.5); three CCHFV-positive tick pools were found in nonendemic villages. Endemic villages reported higher seroprevalence among sheep (15.5% versus 2.8%, P < 0.001) but not cattle (25.9% versus 20.1%, P = 0.42). Findings suggest that the current village classification scheme may not reflect the geographic distribution of CCHFV in Zhambyl and underscore that public health measures must address the risk of CCHF even in areas without a known history of circulation.

We conducted a cross-sectional survey to better understand the barriers to attendance at canine rabies vaccination campaigns in Haiti. A structured community-based questionnaire was conducted over a 15-day period during May-June 2017, focused on socio-economic status correlated with participation at canine rabies vaccination campaigns. Questions phrased as a bidding game were asked to determine individuals' willingness to pay (WTP) for dog rabies vaccination and willingness to walk (WTW) to fixed-point vaccination campaigns. The Kaplan-Meier estimator was applied to determine relationships between survey variables. Logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with participants' WTP and WTW. A total of 748 households from eight communities were surveyed. Respondents were predominantly female (54.4%) and had a median age of 45 years. The total number of owned dogs reported from households was 926, yielding a human-to-dog ratio in dog-owning households of 5.2:1. The majority of dogs (87.2%) were acquired for security, and 49% were allowed to roam freely; 42.0% of dog owners reported that they were unable to manage (or restrain) their dogs using a leash. Seventy per cent of dog owners were willing to pay up to 15.9 gourdes (0.25 USD) and/or walk up to 75 m to vaccinate their dogs. Households that owned free-roaming dogs, owned dogs for the purpose of companionship and owned dogs that they were unable to walk on a leash were associated with a higher WTP for vaccination. Living in Artibonite Department, having a middle or higher household income, and owning a dog for security purpose were associated with a higher WTW for vaccination. Low leash use and propensity for dogs to roam freely are barriers to successful fixed-point vaccination methods in Haiti, and alternative methods such as door to door (DD), capture-vaccinate-release (CVR) or oral vaccination should be explored. There may be some prospect for fee-for-service vaccination in Haiti; however, this programme should be introduced as a supplement, rather than a replacement for free rabies vaccination programmes so that mass dog vaccination is not discouraged.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), Q fever, and Lyme disease are endemic to southern Kazakhstan, but population-based serosurveys are lacking. We assessed risk factors and seroprevalence of these zoonoses and conducted surveys for CCHF-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan. Weighted seroprevalence for CCHF among all participants was 1.2%, increasing to 3.4% in villages with a known history of CCHF circulation. Weighted seroprevalence was 2.4% for Lyme disease and 1.3% for Q fever. We found evidence of CCHF virus circulation in areas not known to harbor the virus. We noted that activities that put persons at high risk for zoonotic or tickborne disease also were risk factors for seropositivity. However, recognition of the role of livestock in disease transmission and use of personal protective equipment when performing high-risk activities were low among participants.

Oral vaccines aid immunization of hard to reach animal populations but often contain live-attenuated viruses that pose risks of reversion to virulence or residual pathogenicity. Human risk assessment is crucial prior to vaccine field distribution but there is currently no standardized approach. We mapped exposure pathways by which distribution of oral vaccines may result in inoculation into people and applied a Markov chain to estimate the number of severe adverse events. We simulated three oral rabies vaccination (ORV) campaigns: (1) first generation ORV (SAD-B19) in foxes, (2) SAD-B19 in dogs, and (3) third generation ORV (SPBN GASGAS) in dogs. The risk of SAD-B19-associated human deaths was predicted to be low (0.18 per 10 million baits, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.36) when distributed to foxes, but, consistent with international concern, 19 times greater (3.35 per 10 million baits, 95% CI: 2.83, 3.98) when distributed to dogs. We simulated no deaths from SPBN GAS-GAS. Human deaths during dog campaigns were particularly sensitive to dog bite rate, and during wildlife campaigns to animal consumption rate and human contact rate with unconsumed baits. This model highlights the safety of third generation rabies vaccines and serves as a platform for standardized approaches to inform risk assessments.