9th WHO Expert Committee on Rabies
Preparation of the 9th WHO Expert Committee on Rabies
Geneva, 4-8 October 2004
The purpose of 9th WHO Rabies Expert Committee to be held in WHO Headquarters from 4 to 8 October 2004 will be to review and update the report of the last WHO Expert Committee on Rabies (Technical Report Series 824, WHO, 1992) published following the Expert Committee meeting held in Geneva from 24 to 30 September 1991.
Many developments have occurred since the 1992 meeting in particular with respect to the:
- increasing use of multi-site economical intradermal regimens with respect to rabies prevention in humans
- successful use of oral vaccination techniques to eliminate rabies in foxes in Europe and their increased use in other wildlife species particularly raccoons in the USA and dogs in developing countries
- emergence of bat rabies as a public health problem in many areas
- establishment of a WHO coordinated inter-regional programme for rabies control in Asia and Africa
- evidence-based assessment of the economic and public health burden of rabies in developing countries
- research and development of new biological products
- identification of previously unidentified lyssaviruses.
It has been over 10 years since the 8th report of the WHO Expert Committee on Rabies was published, and the international rabies community considers it is therefore timely to convene a 9th meeting to update its contents (Technical Report Series 824, published by WHO in 1992).
Convening a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Rabies has many advantages over any possible alternatives (such as an email discussion group or a conventional WHO consultation). Major advantages include the following:
- convening a meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Rabies is part of the WHO formal planning and approval exercise
- the publication produced from the 9th meeting will be a formal WHO document that will contain, above all other considerations, state of the art information produced according to a defined process
- the review and incorporation (if deemed appropriate) into the 9th report of the WHO Expert Committee on Rabies of recommendations from many ad-hoc specialized consultations that have occurred since the last Expert Committee meeting was held in 1991
- review of the above-mentioned recommendations by the WHO Expert Committee will increase the status and importance needed for international consideration.
Eight priority themes for revision have been identified so far. A number of rabies specialists attending the 4th Meeting of the Steering Committee for Rabies Prevention and Control in Asia (organized by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Rabies Reference and Research in NIMHANS, Bangalore, 3-5 June 2003) have agreed to assist WHO by leading the various revision topics mentioned below. Initial discussions will be by email. Other names have been suggested.
As for today EDG (Editorial Group) leader names by identified themes are:
- Preventive immunization and PEP in humans (D. Briggs at briggs@vet.k-state.edu)
- Requirements for rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins
(S. H. Madhusudana at mshampur@hotmail.comand F.-X. Meslin at meslinf@who.int ) - Definition of a rabies free area (B.Miranda at mirandae@wpro.who.int )
- Classification of Lyssaviruses (N.Tordo at ntordo@pasteur.fr )
- Rabies control in dogs
(L.Harishandra at haris@itmin.com and Abdul Rahman, S. at shireen@blr.vsnl.net.in ) - Rabies control in wildlife reservoirs (J.Barrat at j.barrat@nancy.afssa.fr)
- Burden of rabies and advocacy for rabies prevention and control
(D.Lobo at lobod@whosea.org ) - Diagnosis (T. Hemachudha at h-cu@usa.net and H.Bourhy at hbourhy@pasteur.fr )