Experts have developed a plan that might help eliminate rabies worldwide by performing a series of mass dog vaccinations in targeted regions.
Rabies continues to be a threat and is killing at least 69,000 people annually, especially people living in rural areas of Asia and Africa. In India, one-third of deaths are caused by rabies.
Vaccines for dogs and humans have been available for years, but there was never a synchronized campaign that aimed to significantly reduce the number of rabies casualties each year.
Pilot projects carried out in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa showed that dog vaccinations were effective in decreasing rabies infections in humans. Experts explained that 70 percent of the dog population should be vaccinated to successfully stop rabies infections.
"There is now convincing evidence that vaccination of dogs would eliminate greater than 98 percent of the rabies health burden globally," Director of Washington State University's Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health, Guy Palmer, told Reuters.
In the worldwide campaign, mass dog vaccinations will be conducted in small to medium areas in order to establish rabies-free zones. The size of these zones will be gradually increased until most of the region is declared rabies-free.
In a press release, the authors mentioned the success of the mass dog vaccinations held in Tanzania. The campaign was able to vaccinate 1,000 dogs in one day, and brought the number of people killed by rabies down to almost zero (the average prior to this was 50 per year).
Researchers admitted that the campaign can cost billions of dollars, but is attainable through the help of various agencies. Further, they argued that mass dog vaccinations should be considered a global health priority.
"The irony is that rabies is 100 percent preventable. People shouldn't be dying at all," Palmer said.
The results of the study were published in the Sept. 26 issue of Science.
