Monitoring biting animal quarantine has been made easy with the GARC App
Are you missing that last key piece of monitoring and surveillance to make the ideal Integrated Bite Case Management (IBCM) program? Your IBCM program is likely already capturing bite cases from the field, but we know that not all biting animals have rabies. If the biting animal does not meet the case definition, it is vital that it is quarantined for at least 10 days. This ensures the safety of the biting animal and the community members while the animal’s health is closely monitored. Comprehensive, real-time quarantine data – just like any other rabies surveillance data – is extremely important as it enables stakeholders to keep track of where the animals are being quarantined, facilitating follow-up and action where needed. This critical data is the last key piece to creating a truly comprehensive IBCM program. However, for the IBCM program to be effective, a clear, efficient reporting tool is needed to capture, analyze, and share the information about the animal with the other stakeholders so that action can be taken.
To enable stakeholders to do just that, we have recently developed a new tool that is easy to use, yet informative. GARC is happy to announce the launch of the Biting Animal Quarantine (BAQ) tool, which helps users collect and analyze all the essential data on biting animals that are being quarantined at either an owner’s or caregiver’s house, or even at a dedicated facility. To this end, users will have access to comprehensive maps, graphs, and pivot tables – enabling them to see where animals are being quarantined, all the data associated with the animal and the exposure, as well as the outcome of quarantine process. The best part is that, despite being comprehensive, the BAQ tool it is certainly not complicated to use – especially if you are already using any of the other GARC surveillance tools.
If that isn't enough, the Biting Animal Quarantine is not only free to use but it also works seamlessly with all the other tools on the GARC App – making it an ideal tool for any Integrated Bite Case Management program as the data can be combined on one platform with rabies surveillance and bite case data – all helping to create a clear picture of the situation and where outbreak responses are needed.
If you are looking for the ideal IBCM program or if you are involved in the quarantining of biting animals, now is your time to act and request a free demonstration of the tool and its comprehensive outputs.
Why wait?! Contact us now!
Article by: Dr Andre Coetzer, Technical Director, GARC