Search

Vaccinating dogs against rabies is an effective means of reducing human rabies. We subjected 1327 clinically diagnosed human rabies death and mass dog vaccination (MDV) data during 2006–2018 to quantify the impacts of MDV on human rabies incidence in Bangladesh and a subset of rabies death data (422) for clinico-epidemiological analysis. A positive and increasing trend of MDV (p = 0.01 and tau = 0.71) and a negative and declining trend (p < 0.001 and tau = −0.88) of human rabies cases (Correlation coefficient: −0.82) have been observed. Among 422 deaths, the majority (78%) of the victims sought treatment from traditional healers, and 12% received post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The mean incubation period of rabies in cases with exposure sites on the head & neck (35 days) was shorter than the upper limb (mean = 64 days, p = 0.02) and lower limb (mean = 89 days, p < 0.01). MDV has been found to be effective for reducing human rabies cases in Bangladesh. Creating awareness among the animal bite victims to stop reliance on traditional healers rather seeking PEP, addressing the role of traditional healers through awareness education programme with respect to the treatment of dog bites, ensuring availability of PEP, and continuing to scale up MDV may help to prevent human rabies deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based surveys for the detection of glucose-6-phosphate dehydogenase (G6PD) deficiency were conducted at three villages in central and northern Vietnam from 2001 to 2006. A total of 799 male individuals belonging to three ethnic groups (Raglai, Pako, and Khomu) were tested for G6PD enzyme activity and 32 G6PD deficient individuals were detected. The prevalence of G6PD deficiency in Raglai, Pako, and Khomu was 2.1% (9/ 438), 7.7% (16/208), and 4.6% (7/153), respectively. In Raglai, G6PD Viangchan was found to be dominant (8/9, 88.9%), followed by G6PD Canton (1/9, 11.1%). In Pako, a total of 16 G6PD deficient cases showed G6PD Viangchan variant. All analyzed samples (7/7, 100%) showed the G6PD Union variant in the Khomu ethnic group. Our study suggests that the Raglai and Pako people share a common ancestry with Cambodians, Laotians, and Thais. On the other hand, the appearance of G6PD Union among Khomu people suggests that they originate from a different ancestry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]