Aims: To review canine rabies, mass parental vaccination, human post-exposure prophylaxis, gene therapy and costs for fighting rabies. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Animal Science – Other, Nelwan Institution for Human Resource Development, Indonesia, between December 2017 and March 2018. Methodology: The author searched the Pubmed Database at NCBI for articles on rabies disease published between 2007 and 2018. All articles were open access and in English. For rabies virus examination, Seller’s test was used. In this article, references written by the author and other relevant publications were included. The author reviewed a rabies dog case kept at Nelwan Institution for Human Resource Development. Results: The dog showed clinical signs such as inappetance, urinary frequency and soaking in a small, juicy drain. Currently, to treat rabies, no drugs are available. For rabies prevention, vaccination is the best way. To eradicate rabies, mass vaccination in dogs, post-exposure prophylaxis, and gene therapy should be used. Fort rabies disease eradication, minimum of 70% of the dog population should receive the vaccination. In addition, humans with category II exposure should receive a rabies vaccine and rabies immunoglobulin. Conclusion: To eradicate rabies, vaccinations are required. In addition, gene therapy can eliminate rabies from the infected neurons by using rAAV-N796. CRISPR/Cas9 system in combination with the MMEJ-based method. Furthermore, mass parental vaccination, post-exposure prophylaxis, and gene therapy can reduce costs in controlling rabies disease.

Rabies is a viral zoonotic disease caused by the lyssavirus and endemic to most tropical and sub-tropical areas of the world. This study reports on the occurrence of rabies in humans and dogs and relates the results to the vaccination status of the dogs. A total of each of 25 brain and saliva samples of dogs were tested for Lyssavirus using RT-PCR and visualised using gel electrophoresis. Additionally, histopathological diagnosis of the Lyssavirus was made on the brain samples. A lyssavirus positivity of 34 % was realised. Sample specific positivity was 58 % and 10 % for brain and saliva samples respectively. Only one of the nine vaccinated dogs tested positive for lyssavirus. Five dogs that tested positive for the virus had bitten seven people prior to death. Results confirms the endemicity of the virus in Ghana and the danger it poses to humans. This study confirms vaccination as an effective tool for preventative of rabies. However, elimination of the disease is possible if there is an established and effective collaboration between veterinary and human medicine through one health.

Bats are reservoirs of many pathogenic viruses including the lyssaviruses rabies virus (RABV) and Australian bat lyssavirus (ABLV). Lyssavirus strains are closely associated with particular host reservoir species, with evidence of specific adaptation. Associated phenotypic changes remain poorly understood but are likely to involve P protein, a key mediator of the intracellular virus-host interface. Here, we examine the phenotype of P protein of ABLV, which circulates as two defined lineages associated with frugivorous and insectivorous bats, providing the opportunity compare proteins of viruses adapted to divergent bat species. We report that key functions of P protein in interferon/STAT1 antagonism and the capacity of P protein to undergo nuclear trafficking differ between lineages. Molecular mapping indicates that these differences are functionally distinct, and appear to involve modulatory effects on regulatory regions or structural impact, rather than changes to defined interaction sequences. This results in partial but significant phenotypic divergence, consistent with ‘fine-tuning’ to host biology, and with potentially distinct properties in the virus-host interface between bat families that represent key zoonotic reservoirs.

During the last few decades bat lyssaviruses have become the topic of intensive molecular and epidemiological investigations. Since ancient times rhabdoviruses have caused fatal encephalitis in humans which has led to research into effective strategies for their eradication. Modelling of potential future cross-species virus transmissions forms a substantial component of the recent infection biology of rabies. In this article we summarise the available data on the phylogeography of both bats and lyssaviruses in Europe and the adjacent regions, especially in the contact zone between the Palearctic and Ethiopian realms. Within these zones three bat families are present with high potential for cross-species transmission and the spread of lyssaviruses in Phylogroup II to Europe (part of the western Palearctic). The lack of effective therapies for rabies viruses in Phylogroups II and III generates impetus for additional phylogenetic and virological research within this geographical region.

Rabies is one of the most significant public and veterinary health problem, causing ap-proximately 59 000 human deaths annually in the developing countries of Asia and Afri-ca. The aetiologic agent, a viral species of the Lyssavirus genus, is highly neurotropic and has a wide host range including terrestrial mammals and several Chiropteran species. The Lyssavirus mokola (MOKV) was first isolated in the late 1960s from organ pools of shrews (Crocidura flavescens manni) in the Mokola forest (Nigeria). To date, at least 30 MOKV isola-tions have been confirmed, all exclusively from Africa, with 73% from southern Africa. There is a limited knowledge about the epidemiology of MOKV and the reservoir host spe-cies is unknown. Here we report on a retrospective identification of a new MOKV from Eswatini, based on molecular characterization of rabies viruses originating from both domestic and African wild cats. A partial region of the lyssavirus genome, encoding the nucleoprotein, was amplified and sequenced. Nucleotide sequence analysis retrospec-tively identified a rare lyssavirus, a Lyssavirus mokola from a domestic cat from Eswatini, whilst the majority of the lyssaviruses were identified as Lyssavirus rabies (98%). Further-more, the nucleotide sequence divergence between the recently identified MOKV isolate, and the historical Lyssavirus mokola isolates ranged from 6.8% and 8.3%. This study further highlights the association between the potential host species of Lyssavirus mokola and the domestic cat as an incidental host. Therefore, continuous vaccination of domestic cats against rabies is crucial even after the elimination of dog-mediated rabies as spill-over re-lated to sylvatic rabies cycles is likely to occur.