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 2

Approximate, undiscounted total costs of largest oral rabies vaccine programs, North America, 1989–2004*

Location, target species Years Total undiscounted costs, million $ Average undiscounted annual costs, million US$ Reference
Ontario, red foxes 1989–2000 Can$43† 3.5 S.A. Shwiff, unpub. data*
Texas, coyotes and gray foxes 1995–2003 US$34 3.8 (17)‡
Appalachian Ridge, raccoons 1997–2007 US$57 5.2 D. Slate, unpub. data§

*Costs are estimates in Can$ or US$ as reported in original publication or as cited by unpublished source.
†S.A. Shwiff et al. (unpub. data) based their calculations on certain data presented in 9,32.
‡Sidwa et al. (17) stated that (for both programs combined) average annual costs were $3.8 million. We computed this value as follows: 9 years × $3.8 million = $34 million total (i.e., Sidwa et al. did not clarify what was included in their cost estimate).
§D. Slate (2007, unpub. data) provided air, bait, fuel, and staff costs, although some staff hours and fuel costs were omitted for initial campaigns during 1997–2001; a total of 9,394 staff hours, $5,868,262 aircraft costs, $923,481 fuel costs, and $50,187,380 bait costs were reported for 58 campaigns involving the dispensing of 41,018,811 baits over 530,825 km2. The software used to determine bait distribution costs was prepared by staff of the United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Wildlife Services, National Rabies Management Program. After deselecting the bait zones, flight lines were drawn by using the topography (e.g., avoiding water and residential areas) to determine the flight lines and transects. After that had been established, the bait zones were populated with the lines and measured to determine the total length (km). Flight lines determine total flight hours: ([km × 0.539958 nautical miles]/flight speed [knots] = flight hours). Fuel usage is computed as follows: (flight hours × consumption rate [91 gallons/h] × fuel price/gallon = total fuel cost). Costs were also influenced by air transect width, distance to airports for refueling, and end-of-transect turning distance.

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