A major barrier to wider access to these products is the need for human or animal plasma donors. New manufacturing practices and technologies to produce large quantities of “cocktails” of selected monoclonal antibodies may provide an alternative in the near future, expanding their availability throughout the world buy LY294002 (Bakker et al., 2008, de Kruif et al., 2007, Gogtay et al., 2012, Goudsmit et al., 2006, Muller et al., 2009 and Smith et al., 2011). In addition to ensuring the availability of rabies biologics, there is also an urgent need to establish laboratory capacity and national risk assessment

systems in regions where surveillance is limited or non-existent (Banyard et al., 2013 and Briggs, 2012). Diagnostic and surveillance systems will provide the MAPK inhibitor critical information to facilitate decision making regarding the need for PEP in cases of exposure to potentially rabid animals. Policy makers and health care professionals will also make use of reliable epidemiological data to design and implement the most appropriate and cost-efficient preventive measures for their situations (Fig. 1). The elimination

of canine rabies is the most cost-effective long-term intervention to prevent the disease in humans. A combination of parenteral vaccination and population management of free-ranging dogs, through surgical or chemical sterilization or capture and euthanasia, can successfully prevent rabies, provided the vaccination coverage approaches 70% and the dog population stabilizes

or decreases (Lembo and Partners for Rabies, 2012, Morters et al., 2013 and Totton et al., 2010). Unfortunately, in many parts of the very world, overpopulation is handled by culling, which is unethical and has only a transient impact (Jackman and Rowan, 2010 and Morters et al., 2013). Because of their intrinsic interconnections, public health, environmental protection and animal welfare are all improved by canine rabies vaccination and mass sterilization programs. The development of techniques to efficiently deliver rabies prevention and population control on a broad scale, with minimal technical requirements and low costs, is therefore imperative. Multiple single-injection methods for simplified population control in males, females or both genders are currently being evaluated. For example, Gonazon® is a contraceptive that contains the active substance azagly-nafarelin; if used as an implant in female or male dogs, it prevents gonadal function via long-term blockage of gonadotrophin synthesis (Goericke-Pesch et al., 2010 and Ludwig et al., 2009).