Prevalence of rabies
The prevalence of rabies, a deadly viral disease affecting mammals, varies significantly across regions worldwide, posing a persistent public health problem.
[8] However, this data is not substantiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) reports registering numbers of death attributed by rabies, worldwide.
The rabies virus, a member of the Lyssavirus genus of the Rhabdoviridae family, survives in a diverse variety of animal species, including bats, monkeys, raccoons, foxes, skunks, wolves, coyotes, dogs, mongoose, weasels, cats, cattle, domestic farm animals, groundhogs, bears, and wild carnivores.
Oral vaccines can be safely administered to wild animals through bait, a method initiated on a large scale in Belgium and that has successfully reduced rabies in rural areas of Canada, France, the United States, and elsewhere.
An estimated 31,000 human deaths due to rabies occur annually in Asia,[12] with the majority – approximately 20,000 – concentrated in India.
Historically rabies was highly endemic in China, with few/inconsistent attempts to control transmission due to the lack of healthcare infrastructure.
[19] Despite this progress, rabies is still the fourth most common cause of death amongst category A and B infectious diseases,[22][bare URL] following HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and viral hepatitis in 2018.
[23] Chinese law requires all diagnosed rabies cases to be recorded in the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NNDRS) within 24 hours of diagnosis.
Additionally, a questionnaire is used to interview patients and family members, in order to collect demographic information, as well as the means of exposure.
Rabies virus antibody tests were performed on serum samples and yielded negative results, which allowed the body to be used for donations despite suspicions from the clinical staff.
[27] The island of Bali in Indonesia has been undergoing a severe outbreak of canine rabies since 2008, that has also killed about 78 humans as of late September 2010.
[31] Unlike predominantly Muslim parts of Indonesia, in Bali many dogs are kept as pets and strays are tolerated in residential areas.
[50] Dogs are the main vector (especially in the east of the country) for the disease but also wildlife, including the bat-eared fox, yellow mongoose and black-backed jackal.
[68] The primary terrestrial reservoirs for the Southwest states are skunks and foxes, with bats being identified as another important species for virus persistence in the environment.
In Colorado the growing population pressures indicated by the increase in the number of residents by 9.2% between 2010 and 2016[69] has led to an elevated risk of rabies to the public.
Additionally, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, reported cases, as well as the geographical distribution, in skunks, raccoons, and bats have increased; thereby further enhancing the likelihood of exposure.
[79] Several countries in Europe have been designated rabies-free jurisdictions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,[80] Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia,[81][Link to precise page] Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland,[82] Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro,[83] the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,[84][better source needed] and the United Kingdom.
[94] Rabies in bats has been reported in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia, Norway and Finland.
[97] There have been five reported human deaths from rabies acquired from bats in Europe: in Ukraine (1977, species not characterised), Russia (1985, EBLV‐1), Finland (1985, EBLV‐2), the United Kingdom (2002, EBLV‐2) and France (2019, EBLV‐1).
Isolated cases of rabies involving illegally smuggled pets from Africa, as well as infected animals crossing the German and French borders, do occur.
In the remaining three cases, the source was a transplant from an infected donor who had died of heart failure prior to developing rabies symptoms.
[84] The UK was declared rabies free in 1902 but there were further outbreaks after 1918 when servicemen returning from war smuggled rabid dogs back to Britain from France and Belgium.
[131] The last case of human death due to rabies in Romania was in 2012,[133] when a 5-year-old girl from Bacău County was bitten by a stray dog.
[147] Public health officials have expressed concern that the arrival of rabies in Australia is likely, given its widespread presence in nearby Indonesia.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published the following list on 2021 based on countries and territories that are free of rabies.
A policy of "catch–neuter–vaccinate–return", where the stray animals are captured, sterilized, vaccinated, and then released back on the streets, can be effective in preventing rabies.
[154] A simplified and cheaper policy of only sterilizing the stray animals, enacted in some jurisdictions, helps reduce their numbers in time, but slows down the rabies eradication efforts.
Euthanasia of stray animals is a controversial policy, but it is practiced in many countries; in the United States, every year, about 390,000 dogs and 530,000 cats in shelters are euthanized.
In addition, educating tourists about coming into contact with potentially rabid stray animals abroad is also necessary in order to prevent rabies.
[159] The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the rabies situation in some parts of the world, since it has interfered with both the policies of management of stray animals and with the access of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) for humans.
