ABOUT RABIES

Despite being an entirely preventable disease, rabies continues to be a significant cause of human and animal deaths in many parts of the World, with a conservative estimate of 55,000 human deaths estimated to occur in Africa and Asia each year.

Rabies is primarily a disease of children, who are particularly at risk from this terrible disease, due to their close contact with dogs, and are more likely than adults to suffer multiple bites and scratches to the face and head, both of which carry a higher risk of contracting rabies.  Children also are often unaware of the danger that dogs transmit rabies and may not tell their parents when a bite, lick, or scratch has occurred from an infected animal.

It is widely recognized that the global number of human deaths officially reported are greatly underestimated and reliable data indicating the true incidence of human rabies are scarce or non-existent in many countries.  That fact contributes to rabies often being considered insignificant by policy-makers, and ultimately results in little motivation to implement disease control measures.  Additionally, it is the poorest of the population that is most at risk of exposure and death from rabies and this segment of society is often overlooked.

Fear of the disease has an enormous psychological impact, and victims of rabid animals not only suffer from terrible injuries, but also endure months of anxiety while awaiting an uncertain outcome.  This is particularly true when rabies vaccines and immunoglobulin are not available or beyond the financial means of those bitten by animals in rabies endemic countries.

The high costs of prevention exert a substantial economic burden on individuals and societies in developing countries, and particularly affects those who can least afford it.

Rabies also results in significant livestock losses, which can have devastating economic consequences.

Once the clinical onset of rabies is apparent, no cure is available, and, with very rare exceptions, death is inevitable.  The disease results in horrific clinical signs and human cases cause considerable trauma for all concerned.

The impacts on animal health and welfare are substantial.  Animals suffer horrific clinical signs and animal welfare is affected as a result of the drastic and inhumane control measures that are sometimes adopted towards vector species.

Rabies poses an extinction threat to several endangered wildlife populations, including the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis) and some populations of African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus).  Other populations of wild species, such as the kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), may be threatened in certain regions.

Surveillance of rabies in domestic and wild animals is essential for a better understanding of the scale of the rabies problem, optimizing the use of human rabies biologicals including vaccines, and rabies immunoglobulins, and for evaluating the impact of control measures.

Scientific advances over the past 100 years have given us the tools required for effective rabies control. These include modern effective rabies vaccines for active immunity for people living at high risk exposure and both vaccines and rabies immunoglobulin for victims exposed to the virus through animal bites.  Additionally parenteral and oral animal vaccines are available to protect animals and prevent rabies from continuing to circulate in resident animal populations, (most often it the domestic dog).

It is only through control and prevention of rabies infection in the animal reservoir that long-term control and elimination of the rabies problem is possible.  This has been successfully achieved in some parts of the world.  The Alliance for Rabies Control aims to make this a reality for all of parts the world suffering from the constant presence of rabies.

General rabies information

General rabies information from the World Health Organization

Rabies Information from the United Kingdon Protecion Agency                                                                                                                                                                                           Information on rabies from the United States Centers for Disease Control
 

Travel health services

World Health Organization travel advice and precautions

National Travel Health Network and Centre

United Kingdom National Travel Health Network and Centre

United States Centers for Disease Control travel advice