A confirmed rabies case in a French resident in Cambodia, June 2015.

A case of confirmed rabies in a French resident is a wake-up call for improved access to timely and adequate rabies post-exposure prophylaxis for all those living in Cambodia, as well as for improved pre-exposure prevention in travellers to Cambodia and other highly endemic settings.

Bolstering medical education to enhance critical care capacity in Cambodia.

The capacity to care for the critically ill has long been viewed as a fundamental element of established and comprehensive health care systems. Extending this capacity to health care systems in low- and middle-income countries is important given the burden of disease in these regions and the significance of critical care in overall health system strengthening. However, many practicalities of improving access and delivery of critical care in resource-limited settings have yet to be elucidated. We have initiated a program to build capacity for the care of critically ill patients in one low-income Southeast Asian country, Cambodia. We are leveraging existing international academic partnerships to enhance postgraduate critical care education in Cambodia. After conducting a needs assessment and literature review, we developed a three-step initiative targeting training in mechanical ventilation. First, we assessed and revised the current resident curriculum pertaining to mechanical ventilation. We addressed gaps in training, incorporated specific goals and learning objectives, and decreased the hours of lectures in favor of additional bedside training. Second, we are incorporating e-learning, e-teaching, and e-assessment into the curriculum, with both live, interactive and independent, self-paced online instruction. Third, we are developing a train-the-trainer program defined by bidirectional international faculty exchanges to provide hands-on, case-based, and bedside training to achieve competency-based outcomes. In targeting specific educational needs and a key population-the next generation of Cambodian intensivists-this carefully designed approach should address some existing gaps in the health care system and hopefully yield a lasting impact.

Rabies situation in Cambodia.

BACKGROUND: Rabies, a fatal but preventable zoonosis, is a major public health problem in developing countries. In Cambodia the disease burden is largely underestimated because patients with encephalitis following dog bites are rarely hospitalized and die at home. Since 1998 Institut Pasteur in Cambodia (IPC), Phnom Penh has been the only source of free post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and post-mortem diagnosis. METHODS: The 1998-2007 data compiled by IPC was analyzed to describe all treated patients for PEP, results of human testing and confirmed rabies cases, and results of animal testing. From dog bites' characteristics, we defined a suspected rabid dog bite injury (SRDBI) in humans as a bite that was unprovoked, from a dog that died spontaneously, or from a dog that was reported sick. We applied a deterministic probability model to estimate 2007 rabies human mortality nationwide from the estimated incidence of rabid dog bites, the body distribution of bite wounds, and the probability of PEP access. RESULTS: During 1998-2007, 124,749 patients received PEP at IPC (average 12,470; range 8,907-14,475), and 63 fatal human cases presenting with encephalitis following a dog bite were reported, in which 73% were confirmed positive for rabies by direct immunofluorescence assay or by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. During 1998-2007, IPC tested 1,255 animal brain samples; 1,214 (97%) were from dogs including 610 (49%) positive samples. In 2007, 14,475 patients received PEP (100 PEP/100,000 people in Cambodia) including 95% who resided in Phnom Penh (615 PEP/100,000) or five neighboring provinces. The predictive model estimated 810 human rabies deaths would occur in 2007 (95%confidence interval [CI] 394-1,607), an incidence of 5.8/100,000 (95% CI 2.8-11.5). CONCLUSIONS: Access to PEP is only sufficient for Phnom Penh residents. In 2007, the estimated rabies related mortality exceeded that of malaria and that of dengue. A national rabies control program is needed to improve surveillance and access to PEP, and to initiate vaccination campaigns in dogs.