Accessed on 07.03.2023
A – Z of Rabies – A guide to the world´s deadliest disease
Mission Rabies
This technical report presents the epidemiology of human and animal leishmaniases in the EU and its neighbouring countries and concludes that the disease remains widespread and underreported in many countries of southern Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East and that there is a need to improv
...
e leishmaniasis prevention and control based on robust surveillance in humans, animals, and vectors, and to increase public awareness following a one health approach.
more
A concept (leaflet)
This document outlines the concept of a stimulus package for rabies elimination. The aim of a stimulus package is to catalyse rabies control by starting community projects,
...
building local capacity and using success to generate momentum for growth. Governments could apply for a package, which would provide technical and material support to run small, successful rabies control projects. These in turn build evidence for the feasibility of larger scale elimination, generate enthusiasm foaction and promote investment for sustainability and up scaling. Data reporting in return for the packages would allow the documentation of successes and lessons learnt to benefit global elimination efforts more broadly.
more
Every year, around 830 000 children die from unintentional or "accidental" injuries. The vast majority of these injuries occur in low-income and middle-income countries. However, dozens of prevention strategies and programmes exist. If they were int
...
egrated into other child survival programmes and implemented on a larger scale, many of these deaths and much of the injury-related disability could be prevented.
The report documents the magnitude, risks and prevention measures for child injuries globally –particularly for drowning, burns, road traffic injuries, falls and poisoning.
more
Each year, rabies causes approximately 59,000 deaths worldwide. Despite evidence that control of dog rabies through animal vaccination programs and elimination of stray dogs can reduce the incidence
...
of human rabies, dog rabies remains common in many countries and exposure to rabid dogs is still the cause of over 90% of human exposures to rabies and of 99% of human rabies deaths worldwide. CDC experts in the Poxvirus and Rabies Branch conduct an annual assessment of individual countries’ rabies status worldwide which considers the presence of wildlife rabies, canine rabies variant (dog rabies), and non-rabies lyssaviruses.
more
8 March 2022
A very large number of people from Ukraine are fleeing the country and entering the European Union (EU) countries bordering Ukraine (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) and the EU-neighbourhood country of the Republic of Moldova. Those fleeing Ukraine - mainly women and children - are
...
currently dispersing into communities, but as more people congregate at border crossings it is likely that they will also need to be housed in reception centres.
more
Rabies has an enormous impact on both agriculture and conservation biology, but its greatest burden is undeniably on public health. As such, routine methods for rapid risk assessment after human exposures to
...
rabies as well as applications for laboratory-based surveillance, production of biologicals and management of this infectious disease are critical. Given its mandate to improve human health and control disease among its Member States, WHO has led the production of this fifth edition of Laboratory techniques in rabies.
more
In the Philippines, the month of March is celebrated as Rabies Awareness Month (RAM) every year as decreed by presidential executive order. A massive information campaign around rabies
...
prevention/control is conducted, along with a free, mass dog vaccination campaign throughout the entire country.
more
These new guidelines should help medical and paramedical professionals to provide the state of art rabies prophylaxis to all animal bite victims in the government hospitals and prevent human rabies
...
deaths in the state. The medical officers whenever in doubt are encouraged to contact the state nodal officer and seek further clarifications regarding PEP.
more
The core of the strategy is the goal for all patients to have better overall care, so that the numbers of deaths and cases of disability are reduced by 50% before 2030. For this to be achieved, four strategic aims will be pursued.
Empower and engage communities,
Ensure safe, effective tre
...
atment,
Strengthen health systems, and
Increase partnerships, coordination and resources Strong collaboration
more
The new WHO recommendations for rabies immunization supersede the 2010 WHO position
on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for rabies. These updated
recommendations
...
are based on new evidence and directed by public health needs that are cost-,
dose- and time-sparing, while assuring safety and clinical effectiveness. In addition, new guidance on
prudent use of rabies immunoglobulins (RIG) is provided.
The following sections summarize the main points of the updated WHO position as endorsed by the
Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on immunization (SAGE) at its meeting in October 20171. The full
version of the WHO position on rabies vaccines and immunoglobulins will be published in the Weekly
Epidemiological Record2 in April 2018.
Rabies prevention involves two main strategies: (i) dog vaccination to interrupt virus transmission to
humans; and (ii) human vaccination as a series of vaccine administrations before or after an exposure.
Currently, rabies vaccines made from inactivated cell cultures are extremely well tolerated and have no
contraindications.
more
2018 has been one of the most successful years ever for Mission Rabies. We are on
the cusp of having almost vaccinated one million dogs in global rabies hotspots,
we’ve educated over two million
...
children and we’re seeing a dramatic reduction in
both human and canine rabies in all our flagship project sites!! The app is now
developing in conjunction with CDC in the US, our work is being published at an
unprecedented rate and we’re still only four years old!
more
Website last accessed in 24.03.2023
CDC provides continuing education for professionals involved in rabies prevention and control. While CDC provides some resources directly, others are offered
...
through partnerships and collaborations with other public health entities. This page contains a collection of course notifications, education materials, and continuing education courses related to rabies prevention and control.
more
To guide One Health capacity building efforts in the Republic of Guinea in the wake of the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak, we sought to identify and assess the existing systems and structures for zoonotic disease detection and control. We partnered with the government ministries resp
...
onsible for human, animal, and environmental health to identify a list of zoonotic diseases – rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, viral hemorrhagic fevers, trypanosomiasis and highly pathogenic avian influenza – as the country's top priorities. We used each priority disease as a case study to identify existing processes for prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, laboratory confirmation, reporting and response across the three ministries. Results were used to produce disease-specific systems “maps” emphasizing linkages across the systems, as well as opportunities for improvement. We identified brucellosis as a particularly neglected condition. Past efforts to build avian influenza capabilities, which had degraded substantially in less than a decade, highlighted the challenge of sustainability. We observed a keen interest across sectors to reinvigorate national rabies control, and given the regional and global support for One Health approaches to rabies elimination, rabies could serve as an ideal disease to test incipient One Health coordination mechanisms and procedures. Overall, we identified five major categories of gaps and challenges: (1) Coordination; (2) Training; (3) Infrastructure; (4) Public Awareness; and (5) Research. We developed and prioritized recommendations to address the gaps, estimated the level of resource investment needed, and estimated a timeline for implementation. These prioritized recommendations can be used by the Government of Guinea to plan strategically for future One Health efforts, ideally under the auspices of the national One Health Platform. This work demonstrates an effective methodology for mapping systems and structures for zoonotic diseases, and the benefit of conducting a baseline review of systemic capabilities prior to embarking on capacity building efforts.
more
Guide; revised 15 June 2010
Rabies is 100% fatal but also 100% preventable with prompt and complete post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). All animal bites, scratches and licks must be assessed for potential rabies virus exposure.
Website last accessed in 12.03.23
CDC’s Lauren Greenberg writes about building rabies diagnostic capacity in the effort to control rabies in countries that are most affected by the disease.
Website last accessed on 14.04.2023
The GARC Education Platform (GEP) is a set of free online courses developed to improve the skills and knowledge of people working in rabies awareness and prevention
...
. Through the GEP, we aim to empower people to become rabies advocates, focal persons, and experts across the globe. After completing each course, you become a certified graduate and receive a unique certificate of completion!
more
Rabies is an infectious viral disease that is almost always fatal once clinical symptoms appear.
In most cases, the disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of a rabid dog, but infection can also spread through scratches or via saliva.
...
Rabies kills one person every 9 minutes and children aged 5–14 years are frequent victims.
Yet rabies is 100% vaccine preventable. Vaccinating dogs is the most cost-effective way to prevent rabies in people.
Education about dog behaviour, immediate care measures after a bite, responsible dog ownership and bite prevention are essential components of rabies elimination.
WHO and partners aim to achieve zero human rabies deaths by 2030.
The time to act is now.
More information: http://www.who.int/rabies/en/
more