REVIEW article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1567807
Free-roaming dog populations and movement methodologies for global rabies elimination: knowns and unknowns -A scoping review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Veterinary Public Health, Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Liebefeld, Switzerland
- 2Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- 3The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- 4Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
- 5Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, Assam, India
- 6Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- 7Wellcome Trust DBT India Alliance, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
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Understanding free-roaming dog (FRD) demographics and movement patterns is essential for effective rabies control interventions, such as mass dog vaccinations (MDV). This review assesses published studies on FRD movement and enumeration to assess existing knowledge.A scoping review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines. Three databases, namely, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, were searched for publications between 2012 and 2024. A total of 2167 articles were screened through successive filtration process to select a final corpus of 52 publications. The studies were predominantly from India (n=8), Brazil (n=6), Indonesia (n=5), Guatemala (n=5) and Chad (n=5) and mostly investigated FRD population size. Several techniques were used for FRD enumeration, with photographic mark capture-recapture being the most common. Most FRD movement studies focused on home ranges, influenced by the technique and population size. In many studies, advantages and disadvantages of the techniques employed remained unreported, leaving a scope for misleading conclusions when comparing the methods used.The review highlights significant research gaps in FRD movement and population studies in rabiesendemic regions, which are often overlooked in rabies control strategies. Addressing these gaps through targeted research is essential for developing more effective, evidence-based interventions.
Keywords: Rabies endemic countries, Enumeration, Zero by 30, Disease elimination, dog-mediated rabies
Received: 28 Jan 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cunha Silva, Fellenberg, Freudenthal, Tiwari and Dürr. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Laura Cunha Silva, Institute of Veterinary Public Health, Department of Clinical Research and Veterinary Public Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Liebefeld, Switzerland
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