ABSTRACT
Canine rabies remains a public health problem in Thailand and other developing countries. This study of animal bites at the Animal Bite Clinic at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute revealed that: (1) The majority of patients were bitten by dogs and the time of the attack was mostly during the day. (2) School-aged children are at the highest risk for animal bites. (3) The most common site of injury are the legs and foot (64.2%), with the second most common site being the hands and fingers (21.2%). (4) Only 48 per cent of patients received rabies vaccine 1-2 days after being exposed. There was considerable delay before the rest received treatment. Solving Thailand' s rabies problem depends on control of canine rabies and educational campaigns. Public education must be an integral part of efforts to decrease the incidence of animal bites and assurance that they are managed properly.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Bites and Stings/epidemiology , Child , Child, Preschool , Dogs , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Thailand/epidemiologyABSTRACT
It is known that rabies virus can suppress the host immune system. In this study we demonstrate a depression of cell-mediated immunity in mice, peripherally infected with Thai street rabies virus. The cell-mediated cytolysis of spleen cells from mice increased transiently on day 5 after infection and declined rapidly thereafter until death. The proliferation of spleen cells stimulated with a T-cell mitogen such as phytohemagglutinin or concanavalin A, was significantly suppressed during the course of infection. There was also a marked suppression of IL-2 secretion in parallel with a decrease of the T-cell proliferative response to mitogen. The suppression of T-cell proliferation was not restored by treatment with a calcium ionophore (A 23187) or phorbol 12-myristate-13 acetate (PMA).
Subject(s)
Animals , Calcimycin/pharmacology , Calcium/metabolism , Cations, Divalent , Cytosol/metabolism , Cytotoxicity, Immunologic/drug effects , Dogs , Immunity, Cellular/drug effects , Immunosuppression Therapy , Interleukin-2/biosynthesis , L Cells , Lymphocyte Activation/drug effects , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , Mitogens , Protein Kinase C/antagonists & inhibitors , Rabies/immunology , Rabies virus/immunology , T-Lymphocytes/enzymology , Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate/pharmacologyABSTRACT
Serum antibodies to rabies virus were measured in 32 Thai puppies before primary vaccination. Only five showed evidence of rabies antibody by ELISA testing and they had no rabies virus neutralizing activity detectable by RFFIT. Immunologic ignorance of these young dogs leaves a large part of the canine population susceptible to rabies. This could be one reason for the failure of canine rabies control efforts in Thailand.