Enhancing Human Post-Exposure Rabies Prophylaxis in Canine Rabies Endemic Regions With an Interactive Web Solution

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology
• Digital Health

Background:

• Rabies causes over 50,000 deaths annually, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, due to inadequate post-bite care.
• Limited availability and supply chain issues of essential rabies biologics (vaccines, immune globulins, monoclonal antibodies) hinder effective post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in endemic regions like Asia and Africa.
• Healthcare professionals in resource-limited settings often lack up-to-date knowledge of current rabies PEP guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and introduce an interactive, user-friendly web application, ZeroRabiesApp (ZRA), to address critical gaps in rabies post-exposure management.
• To provide a point-of-care tool that integrates current rabies prophylaxis guidelines and information on biologic availability for treating dog bite exposures.
• To offer a real-time, localized solution to prevent human rabies deaths by improving access to timely and appropriate post-bite care.

Main Methods:

• Developed ZeroRabiesApp (ZRA), a web-based application integrating World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rabies post-exposure prophylaxis guidelines.
• Incorporated a user-friendly interface for generating customized PEP schedules based on the date of exposure.
• Integrated a rabies biologics database to identify nearest available locations for essential prophylaxis medications.

Main Results:

• ZRA provides customized, guideline-based post-exposure prophylaxis schedules tailored to individual dog bite cases.
• The application facilitates access to a database for locating essential rabies biologics, addressing supply chain challenges.
• The tool is freely available, offering a scalable solution for improving rabies prevention in resource-limited settings.

Conclusions:

• ZeroRabiesApp (ZRA) offers a practical, real-time solution to enhance rabies post-exposure prophylaxis in areas where it is most needed.
• By improving access to information and essential biologics, ZRA has the potential to significantly reduce preventable human rabies deaths.
• The integration of digital health tools like ZRA is crucial for strengthening public health responses to endemic infectious diseases.