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PURPOSE: The purpose and scope of this report is to: 1. To examine the cost of the program 2. To examine the different government agencies that had to be worked through in order to launch the program 3. To examine how the funding for the program was raised 4. To review how the program was organized and coordinated The Oral Rabies Vaccination Program for Coyotes in South Texas: The Northern Spread of the deadly Rabies virus throughout South Texas is very alarming. The reservoir for the virus is the wild coyote. Infected coyotes carry and spread rabies and, many times, transmit rabies to the domestic animal population. When humans contract the rabies virus it is usually via the bite of an infected, domestic animal. We, therefore, normally rely on our domestic animals to act as an immune barrier (as long as our animals are vaccinated) between us and the wildlife reservoir. The problem with the current rabies epizootic (epidemic in animals) in the coyote population is the close proximity that coyotes tend to have with humans. We may not be able to rely on our domestic animals to act as the barrier because the coyote will bring the disease right to us. There is also concern, not only about the spread of rabies to humans, but also to different animal species such as livestock herds and other wild animals. Rabies has always been enzootic (endemic in animals) in the Texas wild animal populations. The positive numbers rise and fall each year, depending on the population numbers, favorable weather and overall health of the animal reservoir. The sudden upsurge, however, of positive coyote rabies cases was alarming. Throughout 1994, the rabies virus spread north, out of Mexico, at a before unheard of rate. At about the same time on the east coast, there was ongoing work on a program to vaccinate the wild fox population. The State of New Jersey had documented an increased number of rabies positive foxes during 1993 and 1994. Canada and some European countries had previously enjoyed a great deal of success in controlling fox rabies with an orally delivered rabies vaccine. New Jersey was able to get the oral vaccine product approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The New Jersey state public health department undertook what turned out to be a very successful program of spreading baits, laced with the oral vaccine. The program dramatically reduced the incidence of rabies in wild foxes. The State of Virginia had also performed a field study of a similar program to control raccoon rabies on a island, off the coast of Virginia. Several raccoons were later captured from the island and tested for an immune level to rabies. The raccoons were shown to have high protective immune titer levels resulting from the vaccine. These programs caught the attention of the staff of the Zoonosis Control Division of the Texas Department of Health . Why couldn't a similar program work on the coyotes in south Texas? Work on that very question began. Several hurdles had to be cleared in order to put vaccine laced baits on the ground. The following are some of the issues that had to be addressed before the program could be pursued: How was the program going to be funded? Would the vaccine even work in coyotes? Could Texas secure FDA licensure for use of a vaccine in coyotes that had only recently been approved for use in the US in foxes? How could enough vaccines be spread across a wide enough area to be effective? The first major hurdle was, of course, funding. If the program could not be funded, then there was obviously no reason to pursue the venture any farther. The Texas Department of Health sent a request for Contingency Funds to the USDA through the Texas Animal Damage Commission (ADC). The Texas ADC acts a conduit for State and Federal transactions because of their affiliation to both State and Federal government. The request had to be routed through the Texas ADC, the Federal ADC and eventually end up on the desk of the Secretary of Agriculture. The USDA contingency funds are federal moneys that are earmarked for emergency response to cases of animal diseases such as foot and mouth disease or other traditionally foreign animal diseases. The spread of rabies north, through south Texas was, however, such an immediate problem with such great potential for loss that $1.39 million was granted to the State of Texas by the USDA. The Texas Health Department also committed $1 million to the program. Once the funding for the program was secured, the next step was to determine if the vaccine could be made to work in coyotes. The programs in Europe, Canada and on the east coast had already proven that the vaccine would work in foxes, but would it work in coyotes? The Texas Department of Health commissioned a study at Texas A & M University at College Station, Texas. The project was to offer captive coyotes vaccine laced baits. The baits were a commercial dog food base, extruded biscuit with a hollow center. The baits measure about an inch by an inch by about three inches long. The study included 22 captive coyotes. The baits were left in the enclosures with the coyotes on several different occasions and then a month later the coyotes were subjected to challenge. During the challenge, the coyotes were exposed to a virulent dose of rabies virus and then observed to see if they were protected or not. Out of the 22 coyotes in the study, only three survived the challenge. There was clearly a problem with the bait/vaccine combination! The real cause of the vaccine failure in the Texas A & M study may not have been the fault of the vaccine after all. There is a committee that oversees all animal testing in any animal research facility called an IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee). The IACUC at Texas A & M felt that it was inhumane to allow the coyotes to go hungry for any period of time during the study. The IACUC mandated that the coyotes be fed a very palatable, high calorie, commercial dog chow every day during the study. Consequently, the coyotes did not have a wild coyote's appetite and therefore they did not eat the baits! It was no surprise that the coyotes did not develop any immunity, they were never vaccinated! While this problem of testing was being sorted out, Dr. Fearneyhough, Director of the Border Rabies Prevention Project was in Canada, at a Rabies Seminar, and he was told that there was a captive group of coyotes at the Denver Wildlife Research Facility in Logan, Utah. Dr. Fearneyhough contacted the Facility and learned that they had 47 captive coyotes and that the coyotes could be used as part of a vaccine trial. The problem with the Utah coyotes was that 40 of the coyotes were captive raised and had already been rabies vaccinated. Their prior vaccinations would preclude the use of a post vaccination challenge as a valid test. The coyotes were all tested for blood rabies titer levels and then offered the vaccine laced baits. The coyotes were then tested for an increase in blood titer levels at days 7, 14 and 28 following ingestion of the baits. Of the 47 coyotes in the study, 82% showed a fourfold increase in titer levels. This was truly encouraging, but the question still remained whether or not the vaccine would immunize a previously unexposed animal and then could the animal survive a challenge? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia got involved at about the same time and conducted their own study. The CDC anesthetized 12 coyotes and sprayed a dose of the oral vaccine into the back of the throats (on the tonsils) of the coyotes. The coyotes were then challenged a month later and all survived the challenge . This success, in combination with the success in Utah secured the FDA and USDA blessings for the program. It is interesting to note that this testing was being done in November, 1994 and the program was scheduled to proceed in February, 1995! If the testing came back inconclusive, officials at the Department of Health planned to go ahead with program as planned. Since the vaccine was already approved for foxes, the target animal for the p Bibliography: Word Count: 1589
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