2015 Outbreak of Canine Rabies in Malaysia: review, analysis and perspectives

Rabies is an acute fatal zoonotic encephalitis caused by a Lyssavirus belonging to the family rhabdoviridae

responsible for about 69000 deaths annually. In July, 2015 Malaysia lost its rabies free status due to an outbreak

of canine rabies that started from Perlis state and later moved to Kedah and Pulau Pinang states of Malaysia.

This study was carried out to review available data on rabies and determine the incidence of rabies during the

outbreak, the susceptible population of dogs, the number of dogs culled, the number of dogs vaccinated and

lessons that can be learned from the outbreak using data principally from the OIE and other public domain

sources. Statistical calculations employed chi square analysis at 95% confidence level using SPSS version 22.

The incidence of rabies was 0.10% (CI= 0.05%, 0.18%). There was significant difference (P<0.0001) between

the number of cases, number of susceptible dogs, number of dogs destroyed and number of dogs vaccinated

between the 3 states in Malaysia with Perlis having the highest number of cases, Kedah having the highest

number of susceptible dogs, Pulau Pinang having the highest number of culled dogs but with the least number

of vaccinated dogs and Kedah having the highest number of vaccinated dogs. Perlis had the highest number of

cases followed by Pulau Pinang. Kedah with the highest number of vaccinations recorded only 1 case of rabies.

There was no case of human rabies despite numerous dog bite cases during the outbreak. The proximity of the 3

states especially Perlis to a rabies endemic country must have led to the outbreak of the infection. Mass

vaccination of dogs along with short term targeted culling is important in stopping rabies outbreaks. Territories

within close proximity to endemic locations must maintain more surveillance against transboundary diseases

like rabies. Post exposure prophylaxis is necessary immediately after exposure to rabies to prevent human

infection.