ABSTRACT
Preventive vaccination against rabies virus is a highly effective means for rabies prevention but some animals do not reach the minimal prevention threshold level for neutralizing antibodies. To assess sero-conversion among dogs that were given rabies vaccination in Kaduna metropolis of Kaduna State Nigeria, a quantitative indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (i-ELISA) was used to detect rabies virus anti-glycoprotein antibodies in sera from 300 apparently healthy rabies vaccinated dogs at the four state veterinary clinics between March and May 2015. Of the 300 dogs, 276 (92.0%) consisting of 33 (11.9%) young dogs, 180 (65.2%) adult dogs and 63 (22.8%) old dogs were immune to rabies virus (antibody titre >0.5IU per ml), while 24 (8%) were not immune. The prevalence of rabies anti-glycoprotein antibody was higher with the adult dogs (96.8%) than among the old dogs (92.6%) or the younger dogs (71.7%). The prevalence was also higher among cross bred dogs (95.2%) than Exotics (91.0%) and Local (90.3%) breeds. Male dogs had a higher rabies anti-glycoprotein antibody, 173 (95.0%) than the female ones, 103 (87.3%). Local and foreign anti-rabies vaccines were used and both achieved success at stimulation of antibody production but the rate of antibody generation was slightly higher with the use of local (92.4%) than foreign (91.0%). At bivariate level, age and sex of the dog were significant factors associated with rabies anti-glycoprotein stimulation while breed and vaccine type were not. On multivariate logistic regression, age remained independent predictor of sero-conversion in rabies vaccinated dogs. The result in this study has shown that there is high anti-rabies immunity among dogs vaccinated against rabies virus at the state veterinary clinics in Kaduna. Hence, there is the need to ensure sustenance of the annual rabies vaccination campaign in the state and the country at large in order to achieve the desired 80% immunity required to guide against the occurrence of an outbreak. Keywords: Dogs, Antibody, Immunity, Kaduna, Rabies, Vaccination, ELISA, Serum.