THE STUDY OF RABIES ANTIBODIES AMONG DOGS IN BANGKOK

Abstract

Recently, the trend of rabies disease situation in animals from brain tissue in Thailand became 848, 1476, 377, 239, 191, and 236 heads in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 respectively. Even though vaccination in animals is the best way to control and reduce rabies, the exact efficacy of the vaccine program is unclear. Since it depends on the quality of the vaccine, the vaccination process as well as animal conditions. Therefore, the determination of rabies antibody titer is useful and necessary monitoring strategy for control and elimination of rabies. A total of 157 sera of dogs from Bangkok Metropolis were performed by using the ELISA method. The result showed that only 41.4% (65/157) had positive antibodies for rabies. On the point of the vaccination history by owner interviews, dogs that vaccinated within one year shown the positive titer of antibodies against rabies for 31.8% (7/22), dogs that vaccinated more than one year showed 37.5% (3/8), while 43.7% (55/126) dogs with unknown vaccinated history shown for 43.7% (55/126) and unvaccinated dogs shown for 0.0% (0/1). Statistical analysis shows no significant difference in vaccination history (p>0.05). These findings indicate that the ratio of dogs that show positive titer of antibodies against rabies in Bangkok Metropolis is lower than World Health Organization criteria and the vaccination history shows that dog owners pay insufficient attention to their pet vaccination.