Maintenance of Rabies-free Status in Countries Free from Rabies

Abstract

Globally more than 50,000 people die of rabies every year. Most of victims are kids under 15 year of age and are reported from Asia and Africa. There are only limited areas where rabies has been eliminated or historically no incursion of rabies has ever been reported. As more than 99% of rabies death in humans occurs by dog bite, it is evident that the most important and effective preventive measures is canine rabies control. In rabies endemic countries, therefore, every effort to control rabies by vaccination of dogs along with dog population control should be implemented. It has been shown that elimination of canine rabies is feasible even in those countries where the burden of rabies is tremendously high. On the other hand one of the most effective measures taken by rabies-free countries to maintain their rabies-free status is strict import restriction of dogs. In this article the measures implemented in several rabies-free countries or areas to sustain their rabies-free status have been reviewed.