title: Lack of protection against rabies in neighbourhood dogs in some peri-urban and rural areas of Ogun and Oyo states, Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rabies is a highly fatal zoonosis that causes severe destruction to the central nervous system and remains underreported in developing countries like Nigeria.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The increasing close contact between dogs and their owners or neighbours suggest a need for investigation of the protective level of rabies virus (RABV) antibodies in dogs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sera from 150 apparently healthy neighbourhood dogs from some peri-urban and rural areas of Ogun and Oyo states, southwestern Nigeria were analyzed for the presence of RABV antibodies using the indirect ELISA technique. These dogs were kept as pets, used for hunting or sold for human consumption.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that none of the dogs had optimal RABV antibody titres, 25 (16.7%) had sub-optimal antibody titres while 125 (83.3%) were negative. Detection of sub-optimal RABV antibody levels in these unvaccinated dogs suggests that they might have been exposed to rabies or rabies-related viruses. Data obtained from interviews conducted revealed that 21.3% of the dog owners were informed about rabies but neglected vaccination while 44.7% were uninformed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that these dogs lacked protective levels of RABV antibodies and thus constitute a public, health threat. This finding underscores the need for dog anti-rabies vaccination campaigns covering peri-urban and rural areas as well as the promotion of large scale public enlightenment programmes on rabies in Nigeria.
authors.forename: D O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Oluwayelu
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Adebiyi
authors.forename: O G
authors.initials: OG
authors.lastname: Ohore
authors.forename: S I B
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Cadmus
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011634:Public Health; D011818:Rabies / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D011820:Rabies virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012424:Rural Population; D014505:Urban Population; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral