One health approach to rabies management in Manitoba

A One Health approach was developed in the province of Manitoba in 2014 to manage human and domestic animal exposures to rabies. Manitoba Rabies Central is a collaboration of 3 provincial departments responsible for animal, human, and environmental health. Since the inception of the program 537 samples from animals suspected of rabies and causing an exposure to a human or domestic animal have been evaluated with 11.3% testing positive, 85.7% testing negative, and 3.0% being unfit for testing. Most of the positive rabies test results came from skunks (52.0%), which accounted for 12.5% of submissions. Dogs and cats accounted for 52.5% of submissions; however, only 18.9% of these animals tested positive for rabies. Domestic animals were more likely to be exposed to a rabid animal (most commonly skunks) than were humans. Humans were more likely to be exposed to dogs and cats (regardless of rabies test result).