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Page 18 Jaswant et al. One Health Implement Res 2024;4:15-37 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ohir.2023.61

collaboration to advocate for the global goal of “Zero by 30”; to end human deaths from dog-mediated
[28]
rabies by 2030 .
[29]
Surveillance plays a critical role in infectious disease control . Surveillance entails the continuous,
[30]
systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and timely dissemination of health-related information ,
serving as the foundation for planning, execution and evaluation of public health strategies. For instance,
surveillance provides data on the effectiveness of interventions, supporting decision-making for initiatives
like “Zero by 30” . Increasingly, surveillance also involves genetic data, for pathogen diagnosis and risk
[31]
[32]
assessment, as well as to identify the source of outbreaks and to characterise pathogen spread . Linked with
locations, pathogen genetic data have uncovered disease movement; from global migration dynamics to
[35]
local transmission pathways for pathogens such as Influenza virus [33,34] , Ebola virus , Zika virus , Yellow
[36]
fever virus [37,38] , Mpox virus [39-42] and SARS-CoV-2 . Sequencing approaches have the potential to enhance
[43]
rabies surveillance and provide actionable information to inform control programs locally and globally as
part of “Zero by 30”. For example, viral sequence data can distinguish undetected local circulation from
incursions and potentially identify their sources . More generally, sequencing could provide insights into
[44]
how rabies circulates within populations and the processes responsible for its maintenance in specific
localities [32,45] .

Use of pathogen sequence data for surveillance is, however, not yet routine in most LMICs. Constraints
include lack of local sequencing capacity, competent personnel and laboratory resources, and these are
[35]
affected by costs of, and access to, reagents and consumables, as well as power supplies and cold chain .
Sequencing technologies have become more affordable and efforts are underway to improve accessibility .
[46]
Indeed, growth in sequencing capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic provided evidence of the feasibility
of scaling up molecular diagnostics, but also highlighted operational challenges. For example, in Nigeria, the
number of laboratories capable of molecular identification of SARS-CoV-2 increased from four to 72 in
[47]
2020 . In this systematic review, our goal was to examine the extent of the application of genetic
approaches to RABV surveillance in regions with endemic dog-mediated rabies (much of Africa, Asia, and
parts of Latin America) and how, going forward, these approaches can contribute to the “Zero by 30” goal.

METHODS
This review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-
Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines , following a protocol developed a priori to ensure methodological
[48]
reproducibility and transparency [Supplementary File 1].

Eligibility criteria
Studies must address either dog, human or terrestrial wildlife rabies (i.e., not focus on bat rabies), and use
molecular techniques and genetic sequence data, either for diagnosis [diagnostic polymarase chain reaction
(PCR) products] or surveillance. We excluded studies reported as literature reviews that did not present
genetic sequence data, or focus on rabies, and that were not published in English.

Search strategy
A systematic search was undertaken on PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases to identify
original studies published between 2000 and 2023. Advanced searches with Boolean operators and
quotations were performed using the search terms “Rabies AND (genom* OR sequenc* OR molecular OR
phylo*) AND (control OR surveillance OR eliminat*)” as illustrated in Supplementary Table 2 with an
example of the medical subject headings (MeSH) terms from one of the search engines provided in
Supplementary Table 3. Further manual searches were performed for additional relevant studies.