Serological evidence of natural exposure to rabies in rural populations in Gabon.

Autor: Kombila LB; Unité Émergence des Maladies Virales (UEMV), Département de Virologie, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), Franceville, Gabon.; Ecole Doctorale Régionale d'Afrique Centrale en Infectiologie Tropicale (EDR), Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (USTM), Franceville, Gabon., N'dilimabaka N; Unité Émergence des Maladies Virales (UEMV), Département de Virologie, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF), Franceville, Gabon.; Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences, Université des Sciences et Techniques de Masuku (USTM), Franceville, Gabon., Lannoy J; Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unit Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Rabies, Paris, France., Elguero E; MIVEGEC, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier University, CNRS, Montpellier, France., Leroy EM; TRANSVIHMI, Université de Montpellier-IRD-Inserm 34394 Montpellier, France., Dacheux L; Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Unit Lyssavirus, Epidemiology and Neuropathology, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Rabies, Paris, France., Becquart P; MIVEGEC, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Montpellier University, CNRS, Montpellier, France.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PLoS neglected tropical diseases [PLoS Negl Trop Dis] 2024 Nov 14; Vol. 18 (11), pp. e0012044. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Nov 14 (Print Publication: 2024).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0012044
Abstrakt: Rabies is one of the oldest known zoonotic diseases, with dogs being the main reservoir for 99% of the cases of human rabies. However, wild animals may also be rabies vectors. In most cases, contact with a rabid animal results in rabies without pre- or post-exposure prophylaxis, and the disease is nearly always fatal. Nevertheless, a few studies have documented cases of rabies-specific antibodies detection in people with no history of vaccination, suggesting that individuals can be in contact with the virus without developing fatal rabies. To further investigate this possibility of non-lethal human rabies exposure, we carried out a retrospective serological analysis, using both immunoassays (ELISA) and seroneutralization assays (RFFIT), on 430 sera collected between 2005 and 2008 from rural unvaccinated Gabonese populations in the Estuaire and Ogooué-Ivindo provinces. Eleven (11) samples (2.5%) were positive for rabies-specific antibodies using both techniques: 1 in Estuaire and 10 in Ogooué-Ivindo. One of three positive people from the Ogooué-Ivindo province, resampled in early 2023, was still positive for rabies-specific antibodies, suggesting that some degree of immunity can be maintained over many years. Our results also show a marginally significant higher prevalence among hunters. This study demonstrates that rabies circulates actively in Gabon and some unvaccinated individuals living in rural environments can be exposed to the virus and survive, with the development of a significant and specific humoral response that can persist for more than 15 years. This passive seroprevalence survey underlines the need to establish a national surveillance system of rabies in both humans and animals in urban and rural areas, and to enhance access to pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Kombila et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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