Insights
High-tech Sensors and Blockchain: New Avenues towards the Elimination of Rabies Rabies continues to kill approximately 60,000 people every year, mainly in Africa and Asia. In order to reach the goal to eliminate dog-mediated human rabies worldwide by 2030, integrated strat egies, political will and innovations are needed. Swiss TPH is at the forefront of rabies research; from devising high-tech sensors to track dogs in urban settings and employing new mathematical methodologies to investigating blockchain for improved access to post-exposure prophylaxis. Rabies is an infectious viral disease that is nearly always fatal once the virus has reached the brain of the infected person. Rabies is a zoonotic disease, meaning that the virus is transmitted from animals to humans. 99 % of human deaths are caused by transmission of the virus by dog bites. Rabies could be fully prevented given the availability of highly efficacious vaccines and human post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). In large parts of Europe, rabies has been eliminated over the past three decades thanks to massive oral vaccination programmes of wild animals.
One Health – taking into account both humans and animals to tackle rabies Rabies can only be eliminated by applying a One Health approach, looking at improving the health and well-being of both humans and animals. Swiss TPH scientists have been working on rabies elimination in the sense of One Health, together with local partners in Africa for the past 20 years. “Unfortunately, we are currently facing a massive human rabies vaccine shortage globally,” said Jakob Zinsstag. “More than ever, we need a coordinated effort by all actors, including ministries of health, Gavi and research institutions to end rabies by 2030.”
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More targeted and cost-effective approach to rabies elimination The global economic burden of dog-mediated rabies is estimated at USD 8.6 billion according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Major costs associated with dog-mediated rabies include loss in productivity due to premature death, cost of PEP and direct costs to the medical sector and bite victims. Studies conducted by Swiss TPH have shown that within 10 years, the cumulative cost of mass vaccination of dogs is lower than the cumulative cost of human PEP. According to Jakob Zinsstag, Head of the Human and Animal Health unit at Swiss TPH: “Well-coordinated long-term regional efforts in dog mass vaccination could lead to the elimination of dog rabies at significantly lower cost than the sustained provision of human PEP prophylaxis.”