ATTAINING RACCOON RABIES MANAGEMENT GOALS: HISTORY AND CHALLENGES

Dennis Slate, Charles Rupprecht, Dennis Donovan, Jacqueline Badcock, Alain Messier, Richard Chipman, and Martin Mendoza

Joint OIE/WHO/EU International ConferenceParis, FranceMay 27-30, 2007

RACCOON RABIES MANAGEMENT GOALS

Phase 1: Prevent spread beyond current range of raccoon rabies

Phase 2: Eliminate raccoon rabies locally, regionally, nationally, continentally

© Roger Barbour/ www.discoverlife.org

Raccoon

Striped skunk

Potential for broad geographic spread inNorth America

Raccoonvariant

Raccoon Rabies ORV History1997-2006

~8 million baits in 2006Raboral V-RG®

CHALLENGES AND PROGRESS ON INITIATIVES

Real-time enhanced rabies surveillance Improve existing bait-oral vaccine/new more effective bait-oral vaccineLocal elimination of raccoon variantContinental approach to rabies management

dRIT- direct rapid immunohistochemical test

negative positive

• Central repository for:

– Public health surveillance data provided by states

– Enhanced surveillance data provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture/ Wildlife Services

• Surveillance shared via interactive mapping on the Internet

• Phased in, includes 8 states

RabID

Current Raccoon Rabies Front

Enhanced Rabies Sampling

Strange acting animalsSuggestive lesionsRoad killsAnimals found deadFocal trap or shoot

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

ORV NAÏVE w/raccoon rabies ORV NAÏVE w/out raccoon rabies POST ORV one event POST ORV 2+ events

% A

nti

bo

dy

Po

siti

ve

ALL STATES% POSITIVE (x±SD) RABIES ANTIBODY RESPONSE

7.7±6.4%

ne=11ns=7

na=1,468

8.3±11.4% 26.9±12.0% 30.3±11.1%

ne=7ns=6

na=302

ne=54ns=11

na=8,431

ne=37ns=10

na=6,813

ne = # eventsns= # statesna= # animals

…role of striped skunk in raccoon rabies dynamics?

SkunksSkunks infectedwith raccoon rabies

ORV ZoneORV Zone

Contingency Action Taken

Contingency Action Planningfor Specific Rabies Variant

beyond ORV zone (>80km)beyond but near ORV zonewithin an ORV zonepersisting within contingency zonespreading toward an ORV zonespreading-no ORV zone established

Raccoon rabies is…

Contingency Actions

Integrated actionenhanced surveillance localized population reduction trap-vaccinate-release (TVR) ORV

Quebec

Vermont

Vermont TVR, May 9 - May 23, 2007 Unique Raccoons Captures: 651 Total trap nights: 4772 10 trappers for 94 days total/trapping 12 hours/day Vaccinated Raccoons: 605 Vaccinated Foxes (Red) 6 Vaccinated Fisher 2 Vaccinated Domestic Cats 61 Euthanized Raccoons 46 Euthanized Skunks 27 Animals Trapped Testing Positive for Rabies: Raccoons: 10 Skunks: 0 Road Kills Collected During TVR Positive for Rabies: Raccoons: 4 Fox, Red 1

Ohio TVR, May 9 - May 19, 2007 Unique Raccoons Captures: 665 Total trap nights: 4043 12 trappers for 104 days trapping14 hours/day Vaccinated Raccoons: 427 Vaccinated Foxes (Red) 0 Vaccinated Skunks 1 Vaccinated Domestic Cats 0 Euthanized Raccoons 238 Euthanized Skunks 0 Animals Trapped Testing Positive for Rabies: Raccoons: 1 Skunks: 0 Road Kills Collected During TVR Positive for Rabies: Raccoons: 0 Fox, Red 0

Trap-Vaccinate-Release

oral rabies vaccine

bait/attra

ctant

delivery mode

bait distribution pattern

baitin

g fre

quen

cy

time of baiting

ORV area size and shape

bait density

target species

habitat preferences

population density

population structure

popu

latio

n dy

nam

ics

natural movement patterns

r

iver

s

lakes

mountainous habitat

major road systems

metropolitan areas

inner coastal plain pine habitat

Challenges….

translocationnon-target competition for baits

Role of vaccine spillage???

Fishmeal polymer

Coated schet

Canine Adenovirus2—Rabies Glycoprotein

Other candidates (e.g., reverse genetics modified live)

…Prospective Oral Rabies Vaccines

Human Adenovirus vector

…Prospective Oral Rabies Vaccines

ONRAB(AdRG1.3)

Encouraging results in skunks and

raccoons from field trial August 2006

Field trials continue in 2007

Local Elimination (?) of Raccoon Variant of Rabies

13

48

30 0 0 0

0

10

20

30

40

50

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

0

510

15

20

2530

35

40

4550

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

OntarioRaccoon cases

New BrunswickRaccoon and skunkcases

Success Characteristicsin Ontario and New Brunswick

Rabies Emergencenorthern periphery of raccoon rabies range

raccoon densities ~ 7-10/km2

adjacent to ORV zones in US

Integrated Control Strategyheavily dependent population reduction and TVR

ORV not used in New Brunswick

Ottawa, Canada, October 2005 RITAJacksonville, FL March 2006 Brasilia, Brazil October 2006 RITAMexico City, Mexico November 2006San Antonio, TX March 2007

North American Rabies Management Plan

Planning Team Representation: Border states and provincial agencies, federal agencies, Native peoples, Universities

Wildlife

PublicHealth

Agriculture

Information transferSurveillance and monitoringResearchRabies control

North American Rabies Management Plan

…potential areas for collaboration

Ontario Red Fox - ORV U.S. Raccoon- ORV

Ontario and New Brunswick Raccoon - TVROntario Raccoon - ORV

International Cooperation

Northeast U.S. and Canada Rabies Vaccination Zones

Canada-U.S.

SUMMARY

Real-time enhanced rabies surveillance

Baits/vaccine

Local elimination of raccoon variant

Continental approach to rabies management

Relative Progress Scale: low to high 1 2 3 4 5

4………….

2………….

1………….

3………….

Progress Challenge/Initiative