SHOULD TRAVELERS IN RABIES ENDEMIC AREAS RECEIVE PREEXPOSURE RABIES IMMUNIZATION

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 1,882 foreign travellers, 74% of which were Europeans, after being in Thailand for an average of 17 days, about the history of potential rabies exposure during their visi ts. Dog bite and dog lick were experienced in 1.3% and 8.9% of the tra vellers respectively. The exposed individuals tended to stay in Thaila nd longer and the incidents occurred mainly in cities rather than in t he rural areas. Thirty-one (1.6%) of all travellers had a history of r abies vaccination, 9 as a result of dog bite or dog lick in Thailand w hereas the remaining 22 had already received the vaccine prior to comi ng to Thailand. Such high prevalences of potential rabies exposure and rabies vaccination may justify the inclusion of rabies vaccine into t he multiple vaccination program for travellers to rabies endemic count ries. This was favoured by over half of the travellers interviewed.