According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “Rabies is present in all continents except Antarctica, with over 95 percent of human deaths occurring in Asia and Africa. Rabies is one of the neglected tropical diseases that predominantly affects already marginalized, poor and vulnerable populations.”

While animal control services, along with governmental vaccination programs, keep the disease at bay in the United States, rabies remains a bigger concern in other countries.

In 2022, members of the University of Nairobi, in collaboration with the Washington State University, gave a clearer picture of the situation with an article, “People will continue to die from rabies if Kenya doesn’t educate healthcare workers,” which also stated rabies is endemic in Kenya and the disease accounts for an estimated 2,000 deaths per year. Further, the authors cited the importance of ensuring healthcare workers are knowledgeable in managing the disease, highlighting opportunities to tailor healthcare programs as part of rabies elimination efforts.

Wildlife conservation advocate, Deborah Aparicio, DVM, CWRS, who started the non-profit organization, Wild DVM (Wildlife Damage Veterinary Management), has been visiting Africa since 2017, including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Rwanda, and Kenya. Among the countries, Kenya is one Dr. Aparicio keeps coming back to, specifically, the Masai Mara, where food animals and guard dogs are considered greatest commodity. Aparicio, along with volunteers, have been on the quest to offer veterinary preventive care.

Dr. Aparicio and team worked with local veterinarians on this project.

The status quo

Most dogs in Africa are not vaccinated or dewormed, and locals do not have access to veterinary care. Although there are some organizations that offer health programs across the country, those have not been enough to stop rabies human casualties that include children.

In conjunction with local veterinarians, we chose to work helping the eradication of rabies in the Masai Mara, which is located in the south end of Kenya and shares a border with Tanzania.

Tanzania already has an extensive rabies vaccination program, and they are sometimes able to donate vaccines to be distributed beyond their border by humanitarian organizations, such as VetAid. Therefore, there is a need to expand the rabies vaccination beyond the border.

Rabies will continue to be a worldwide concern because as with population growth, the interaction and conflict between wildlife and people grows, as well. Without intense rabies vaccination programs, the problem will continue on.

African village guard dogs alert owners when their livestock is being threatened by large predators.

On a mission

In August 2023, I was part of a veterinary group who flew to Nairobi with 500 doses of donated rabies vaccine. Our team continued almost five hours by road through Narok and on to Sekenani, arriving at the Slipway Mara Safari Camp, the property of Gabriel Turasha, BVM.

Sekenani sits at the eastern border of the Masai Mara National Reserve, which gave Dr. Turasha the opportunity to introduce our vaccination program, “End Rabies Now,” by distributing flyers and banners in the areas of Sianna, Sekenani, Talek, Ngoswani, Oloolamutia, and Nkoilale. We were joined by Mathew Nchoco, BVM, and Naikumi Amos, BVM, both veterinarians from the University of Nairobi, as well as by Sharon Grace Muita, a veterinary student at the Masai Mar University.

We walked to each homestead, composed mainly of mud and aluminum sheets. The Kenyan doctors in our team spoke to the families before we attempted to catch their dogs for vaccination and deworming.

Banners and flyers of the event were distributed by volunteers ahead of time to help spread awareness of the campaign. Photos courtesy Dr. Aparicio.

Village guard dogs are not really domesticated as we know it. They are fierce, medium-sized dogs that are free-roaming and have never been leashed. While they live out on the fields, they certainly know who feed them.

Some dogs were submissive, and others just ran away. A few dogs showed fear-aggression, but none of them attacked us. We just let them go and tried to lure them back with food. We found it was easier to catch the dogs in the afternoon, when the children were back from school and helped to restrain them. The kids are closer to the dogs as they play with them and take them along while grazing the cattle, sheep, and goat herds they own. Each family had between two to 10 dogs, depending on the size of their herds and cattle.

Besides vaccinating, we also dewormed using a pyrantel pamoate suspension or a multiple anthelmintic tablet hidden in a type of corn meal called ugali. Although there are fewer in the villages, domestic cats and donkeys are also a concern with rabies transmission to humans in this area. We also vaccinated domestic cats with feline rabies vaccine purchased locally.

We wrote a rabies certificate for each animal vaccinated and kept a copy that included the names of the village, the family, and the animal, as well as age, gender, description, vaccine brand, and serial number. Most families had a dog named Simba, which means lion in Swahili, and the ages were sometimes guessed. The families made sure they got all their certificates and held them with pride.

Rabies certificates were written and provided for all dogs vaccinated.

A meaningful quest

The families were grateful and accommodating of our mission. After all, they are aware of the incidents of kids who have died due to rabies acquired from their dogs infected by wildlife.

After a few full days of work under the sun, we all agreed we had done an amazing labor that left us with a great feeling of accomplishment. We will continue to vaccinate in adjacent areas of the Masai Mara, where there are also a few other on-going rabies vaccination projects by different organizations working toward one same goal.

As we learn to share space with wildlife instead of eliminating them or pushing them out of their own territories, we also need to be aware of the dangers involved, including zoonotic diseases.

This type of vaccination project would not be possible without the help of local veterinarians, who not only know the geography, but are able to speak Masai and can communicate with the village locals. While most Kenyans learn Swahili and English besides their own dialect, the Masai people hold on to their old traditions. They are nomads, practice polygamy, and speak Masai. I am very grateful we can join forces with Kenyan veterinarians to help one same cause.

Deborah Aparicio, DVM, CWRS, USDA-APHIS Accredited, is a small animal and exotic veterinarian and owns Clayton Valley Pet Hospital in Concord, CA. Dr Aparicio is the president of Wild DVM, a no profit organization that helps manage wildlife damage while protecting all species and human welfare.