title: Pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis for the international traveller: a decision analysis.
abstract: To determine for which travellers pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis is indicated, a decision tree-based model has been developed which enables the comparison of one million travellers going to rabies-endemic areas who receive a pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis to one million travellers also going to rabies-endemic areas who are not vaccinated. Using data obtained from a review of the literature, probabilities were assigned to each significant outcome. When numbers were not available, estimates were used and tested with a sensitivity analysis. Routine pre-exposure prophylaxis would prevent 0.054 cases per million adult travellers per month at a cost of 5 billion (thousand million) Canadian dollars. In the worst-case scenario, which concerns children, the cost per case prevented per year of stay would be $275,000 dollars. Our decision analysis leads us to believe that routine pre-exposure prophylaxis given to travellers heading for rabies-endemic regions of the world is not indicated. We conclude that pre-exposure rabies prophylaxis is a medical decision that must be individualized for every traveller and should be particularly considered for children at high risk of being exposed to rabies, who are leaving for a long stay (more than one year) and who will not have rapid access to medical services and rabies immunobiologics.
authors.affiliation: Clinique Santé-Voyage Direction de la santé publique de Montréal-Centre, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: LeGuerrier
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pilon
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deshaies
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Allard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003663:Decision Trees; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011819:Rabies Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D012307:Risk Factors; D014195:Travel
chemical_list: D011819:Rabies Vaccines