Acceptability of local made baits for oral vaccination of dogs against rabies in the Philippines

BACKGROUND: In the Philippines, traditional mass dog vaccination campaigns have only achieved limited and transient success in dog rabies control, mainly because a large segment of the dog population is not accessible for traditional parenteral vaccination. Oral vaccination of dogs has been suggested as a supplementary method to increase the overall vaccination coverage of the dog populations involved. For this purpose, it is necessary to identify a suitable bait that is readily accepted by local dogs and that can be prepared without high costs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a field study, dog bait-acceptance of several baits, made from inexpensive local available material, was examined in the Philippines. RESULTS: Of three baits tested, chickenneck, intestine, and boiled-intestine, the latter, made from boiled sections of the larger intestine of domestic pigs, had the highest acceptance-rate: none of the dogs that were offered a bait refused it, except for two dogs that ran away when approached. Other derivatives of the boiled-intestine bait were also accepted by almost all dogs. These baits, using the serosa of the smaller intestine as bait matrix were filled with fish, beef or pork scraps. However, preparation-time was longer and the costs of bait material were higher than those for the boiled-intestine bait (0.01 U$). CONCLUSION: The boiled-intestine bait can be produced at very low costs using locally available material and is extremely well accepted by local dogs, hence, providing a realistic opportunity to incorporate oral vaccination of dogs in the national rabies programme of the Philippines.