Current Situation of Rabies in the Stray Dog Population in Bangkok, Thailand : Rabies Antigen and Antibody Prevalence (สถานการณ์โรคพิษสุนัขบ้าในสุนัขจรจัดในกรุงเทพมหานคร : ความชุกของโรคและภูมิคุ้มกัน)

Dogs are the principal vector for rabies transmission and responsible for most human deathsresulting from the disease. Stray dogs were the most frequently reported as rabid. The present studywas conducted in order to investigate the current situation of rabies in stray dog population in termsof rabies virus antigen and antibody prevalence. A total of 3,314 saliva and serum samples werecollected from stray dogs captured from 50 districts in Bangkok. Detection of rabies virus antigenin saliva was done by the latex agglutination test and the reverse transcription-polymerase chainreaction. The technique used for determination of antibody against rabies in serum samples was anenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The saliva of a 2-year-old female dog was found positive.The prevalence of rabies virus infection among stray dogs investigated was 0.03 percent (1 per3,314 dogs). The current seroprevalence of antibodies to rabies among stray dogs was 54.92 percent,with the overall mean antibody titer of 0.57 EU/ml. The majority of dogs came from areas inthe central of Bangkok had specific antibodies above the WHO-recommended minimal acceptableantibody level of 0.5 EU/ml. In contrast, the majority of dogs from areas on the outskirts of thecapital had antibodies against rabies below 0.5 EU/ml.Key words: rabies, rabies antibodies, stray dog population