Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link Skip directly to A-Z link
Volume 15, Number 8—August 2009
Synopsis

Tactics and Economics of Wildlife Oral Rabies Vaccination, Canada and the United States

Ray T. SternerComments to Author , Martin I. Meltzer, Stephanie A. Shwiff, and Dennis Slate
Author affiliations: US Department of Agriculture, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (R.T. Sterner, S.A. Shwiff); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (M.I. Meltzer); US Department of Agriculture, Concord, New Hampshire, USA (D. Slate)

Main Article

Table 1

Major oral rabies vaccination campaigns, Canada and the United States

Country and reference Strategy or tactic Duration, y Target
species Unit bait cost* Target bait
Density, no./km2 ORV, TVR, or PIC area, km2/y† Cost/km2‡
Canada
(9) ORV progressive elimination >7§ Red fox Not reported 18–20 8,850–31,460 No estimate
(10) TVR 5§ Skunk, raccoon, red fox >$2.00 (Can$ 1991) 20/den
fox only 60 $450–$1,150 (Can$ in 1991)
(12)
 PIC
 >1§
 Raccoon
 >$2.00 (Can$)
 70
 225 PR, 485 TVR, 1,200 ORV
 $500
(Can$ in 1999)
United States§
D. Slate, unpub.
 data (2007) ORV zone (Appalachian Ridge) >1§ Raccoon $1.22 (US$) 50–75 28,659–84,225 $108
(US$ in 2007)
(26) ORV zone (Ohio–Pennsylvania border) 4§ Raccoon $1.37–$1.52 (US$) 75 3,872–6,497 $153; range $102–$262
(US$ in 1999)¶
(17) ORV progressive elimination >9§ Coyote Not reported 19–27 38,850 $42
(US$ in 2004)#
(17) ORV progressive elimination >8§ Gray fox Not reported 27–39 56,202 $42
(US$ in 2004)#

*Unless otherwise noted, costs are in Can$ or US$. No discounting for inflation was used; this article and Technical Appendix 2 provide inflation-corrected costs in 2008 Can$ or US$.
†Components of reported areas differ according to tactic and strategy. Oral rabies vaccination (ORV) entails topographic areas at which baits are distributed at target densities over landscape. Trap–vaccinate–release (TVR) involves relatively limited topographic areas of intense live trapping and parenteral vaccination of captured animals. Point infection control (PIC) involves successive concentric rings of population reduction, TVR and ORV; the concentric rings become distorted if subsequent rabid animals are caught within these rings. New concentric rings are now formed according to these occurrences. Additionally, depending on habitat or location of urban centers, ORV may be used in a larger strip to create an added ORV preventive zone.
‡Most cost estimates include purchase of baits, aircraft, fuel, and equipment but often omit accurate labor charges.
§Surveillance, TVR, PIC, or ORV bait distributions continue at present; therefore, current duration and areas baited differ from those reported. According to Foroutan et al. (26), ORV baitings continue as part of the National ORV Program (Slate et al. [22]).
¶According to Foroutan et al. (26), areas were baited twice each year. In 1997, the first baiting was conducted over a smaller area (1,780 km2), and in May 1997 (initial) and June 1999, 2 smaller emergency baitings (in response to a breach in the ORV zone) were conducted, covering <1,701 km2. Average costs include a baiting in April 1999, when several tests of bait densities (high) were conducted.
#According to Sidwa et al. (17), the area baited had shrunk over time because of progressive coyote-variant rabies elimination, but the purse string (gray fox) tactic and ORV-baited area were expanded in 2007 as the gray fox variant spread north along the Pecos River and into southern Texas. The area cost estimate was derived as the quotient of a reported $3.8 million/year program cost and average annual 33,669 km2 (dog and coyote) and 56,202 km2 (gray fox) bait zones (sum 89,871 km2) cited in Technical Appendix 2.

Main Article

References
  1. Blanton  JD, Palmer  D, Christian  KA, Rupprecht  CA. Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2007. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2008;233:884–97. DOIPubMed
  2. Childs  JE. Epidemiology. In: Jackson AC, Wunner WH, editors. Rabies. San Diego (CA): Academic Press, Inc.; 2002. p. 113–62.
  3. Meltzer  MI, Rupprecht  CE. A review of the economics of the prevention and control of rabies, part 1: global impact and rabies in humans. Pharmacoeconomics. 1998;14:366–83.
  4. Meltzer  MI, Rupprecht  CE. A review of the economics of the prevention and control of rabies, part 2: rabies in dogs, livestock and wildlife. Pharmacoeconomics. 1998;14:481–98. DOIPubMed
  5. Rabies in the Northwest Territories—parts 1, 2 and 3. The Northwest Territories Newsletter. Northwest Territories Health and Social Services, Canada. 2005;17:1–8.
  6. Johnston  DH, Tinline  RR. Rabies control in wildlife. In: Jackson AC, Wunner WH, editors. Rabies. San Diego (CA): Academic Press, Inc.; 2002. p. 446–71.
  7. Stőhr  K, Meslin  FM. Progress and setbacks in the oral vaccination of foxes against rabies in Europe. Vet Rec. 1996;139:32–5.PubMed
  8. Cliquet  F, Aubert  M. Elimination of terrestrial rabies in western European countries. Dev Biol (Basel). 2004;119:185–204.PubMed
  9. MacInnes  CD, Smith  SM, Tinline  RR, Ayers  NR, Bachmann  P, Ball  DG, Elimination of rabies from red foxes in eastern Ontario. J Wildl Dis. 2001;37:119–32.PubMed
  10. Rosatte  RC, Power  MJ, MacInnes  CD, Campbell  JB. Trap–vaccinate–release and oral vaccination for rabies control in urban skunks, raccoons and foxes. J Wildl Dis. 1992;28:562–71.PubMed
  11. Rosatte  RC, Power  MJ, Donovan  D, Davies  JC, Allan  M, Bachman  P, Elimination of arctic variant rabies in red foxes, metropolitan Toronto. Emerg Infect Dis. 2007;13:25–7. DOIPubMed
  12. Rosatte  R, Donovan  D, Allan  M, Howes  LA, Silver  A, Bennett  K, Emergency response to raccoon rabies introduction into Ontario. J Wildl Dis. 2001;37:265–79.PubMed
  13. Rosatte  R, MacDonald  E, Sobey  K, Donovan  D, Bruce  L, Allan  M, The elimination of raccoon rabies from Wolfe Island, Ontario: animal density and movements. J Wildl Dis. 2007;43:242–50.PubMed
  14. Velasco-Villa  A, Orciari  LA, Souza  V, Juárez-Islas  V, Gomez-Sierra  M, Castillo  A, Molecular epizootiology of rabies associated with terrestrial carnivores in Mexico. Virus Res. 2005;111:13–27. DOIPubMed
  15. Clark  KA, Neill  SU, Smith  JS, Wilson  PJ, Whadford  VW, McKrahan  GW. Epizootic canine rabies transmitted by coyotes in south Texas. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1994;204:536–40.PubMed
  16. Fearneyhough  MG, Wilson  PJ, Clark  KA, Smith  DR, Johnston  DH, Hicks  BN, Results of an oral rabies vaccination program for coyotes. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1998;212:498–502.PubMed
  17. Sidwa  TJ, Wilson  PJ, Moore  GM, Oertli  EH, Hicks  BN, Rohde  RE, Evaluation of oral rabies vaccination programs for control of rabies epizootics in coyotes and gray foxes: 1995–2003. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2005;227:785–92. DOIPubMed
  18. Nunley  G. The coyote in the Edwards Plateau of Texas—an update. In: Shelton M, editor. Special issue: predation. Sheep and Goat Research Journal. 2004;19:23–8.
  19. United States Department of Agriculture. Animal damage control program: final environmental impact statement. Vols. 1, 2 and 3. Washington: The Department; 1994.
  20. Sterner  RT, Smith  GC. Modelling wildlife rabies: transmission, economics and conservation. Biol Conserv. 2006;131:163–79. DOI
  21. Slate  D, Chipman  RE, Rupprecht  CE, Deliberto  T. Oral rabies vaccination: a national perspective on program development and implementation. In: Timm RM, Schmidt RH, editors. Proceedings of the Twentieth Vertebrate Pest Conference; 2002 Mar 4–7; Reno, Nevada, USA; 2002. pp. 232–40.
  22. Slate  D, Rupprecht  CE, Rooney  JA, Donovan  D, Lein  DH, Chipman  RB. Status of oral rabies vaccination in wild carnivores in the United States. Virus Res. 2005;111:68–76. DOIPubMed
  23. Krebs  JW, Mandel  EJ, Swerdlow  DL, Rupprecht  CE. Rabies surveillance in the United States during 2004. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2005;227:1912–25. DOIPubMed
  24. Lucey  BT, Russell  CA, Smith  D, Wilson  ML, Long  A, Waller  LA, Spatiotemporal analysis of epizootic raccoon rabies propagation in Connecticut, 1991–1995. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2002;2:77–86. DOIPubMed
  25. Russell  CA, Smith  DL, Childs  JE, Real  LA. Predictive spatial dynamics and strategic planning for raccoon rabies emergence in Ohio. PLoS Biol. 2005;3:e88. DOIPubMed
  26. Foroutan  P, Meltzer  MI, Smith  KA. Cost of distributing oral raccoon-variant rabies vaccine in Ohio: 1997–2000. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2002;220:27–32. DOIPubMed
  27. Uhaa  IJ, Data  VM, Sorhage  FE, Beckley  JW, Roscoe  DE, Gorsky  RD, Benefits and costs of using an orally absorbed vaccine to control rabies in raccoons. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1992;201:1873–82.PubMed
  28. Kreindel  SM, McGill  M, Meltzer  MI, Rupprecht  CE, DeMaria  A. The cost of rabies postexposure prophylaxis: one state’s experience. Public Health Rep. 1998;113:247–51.PubMed
  29. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rabies postexposure prophylaxis—Connecticut, 1990–1994. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1996;45:232–4.PubMed
  30. Chang  HG, Eidson  M, Noonan-Toly  C, Trimarchi  CV, Rudd  R, Wallace  BJ, Public health impact of reemergence of rabies, New York. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002;8:909–13.PubMed
  31. Shwiff  SA, Sterner  RT, Jay-Russell  M, Parikh  S, Bellomy  A, Meltzer  MI, Direct and indirect costs of rabies exposure: a retrospective study in southern California (1998–2003). J Wildl Dis. 2007;43:251–7.PubMed
  32. Nunan  CP, Tinline  RR, Honig  JM, Ball  DG, Hausefield  P, LeBer  CA. Postexposure treatment and animal rabies, Ontario, 1958–2000. Emerg Infect Dis. 2002;8:217–24. DOI
  33. Meltzer  MI. Assessing the costs and benefits of an oral vaccine for raccoon rabies: a possible model. Emerg Infect Dis. 1996;2:343–9. DOIPubMed
  34. Kemere  P, Liddel  MK, Evangelou  P, Slate  D, Osmek  S. Economic analysis of a large scale oral vaccination program to control raccoon rabies. In: Clark L, Hone J, Shivik JA, Watkins RA, Vercauteren KC, Yoder JK, editors. Human conflicts with wildlife: economic considerations. Fort Collins (CO): US Department of Agriculture; 2002. p. 109–15.
  35. Shwiff  SA, Kirkpatrick  KA, Sterner  RT. Economic evaluation of a Texas oral rabies vaccination program for control of a domestic dog–coyote rabies epizootic: 1995–2006. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2008;233:1736–41. DOIPubMed

Main Article

Page created: October 04, 2010
Page updated: October 04, 2010
Page reviewed: October 04, 2010
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
file_external