September 28 is World Rabies Day, and WHO has published an article: Vaccinate dogs to save human lives. Excerpt:
Every year around the world more than 20 million people are vaccinated against rabies after being bitten. Around 40% of them are under the age of 15. The cost of the full treatment is around US$ 100. As this is equivalent to several months of income for many households in Africa and Asia, a suspect bite can cause a lot of financial stress and force families into debt to pay for the entire treatment schedule.
“Vaccinating dogs is a cost-effective proposal in the long term as human post-exposure treatment is not needed in rabies-free areas,” says Dr Meslin. Dog vaccination costs are as little as US$ 0.50 per dog.
Kevin Le Roux, from the Department of Agriculture in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal manages a project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that has cut the prevalence of rabies in dogs by more than half in just 3 years.
“For the first time in 20 years, we have had a period of 12 months in which there were no human deaths from the disease in the province,” he says. “In KwaZulu-Natal, the number of humans affected by TB or HIV by far exceeds that of rabies victims. But rabies is such a horrific disease. It’s always deadly and we can stop it at relatively little cost.”
