Which dogs are more vaccinated for rabies?

What is it about?

Rabies vaccination is compulsory in Japan; yet its coverage is not perfect. Do we understand enough what would happen if rabies re-entered in Japan after 50 years? A mathematical model may be a good tool to make us prepare: But developing such a model requires lots of fundamental information - what's the vaccine coverage? what's the walking behaviour of pet dogs? how many times do dogs meet each other? This study provide these information.

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Why is it important?

Rabies is still one of the most dreadful zoonotic diseases killing thousands of people every year. Taking advantage of being Island country and with an early effort to eliminate the disease, Japan is free from rabies for more than 50 years. Yet, with its significant impact on public health, rabies vaccination is compulsory for dogs in Japan. This legislation is however controversial given that there has been no studies that really evaluated or discussed what kind of preparations for rabies should be taken in Japan. Is that mass vaccination on dogs? Or is it to allocate more resources on a border control to eliminate illegal animal introductions into Japan? These questions should be discussed drawing on sound scientific evidence. We hope information provided in this paper would be a small contribution to such discussions.