Rabies Is Completely Preventable And Yet It Still Kills Tens Of Thousands Yearly

The New York Times: Rabies Kills Tens Of Thousands Yearly. Vaccinating Dogs Could Stop It.
Seven young men sprinted down paths, darting behind houses and vaulting low walls. Each one carried a long-handled net. From yards, alleys and streets the din of canine outrage filled the air, announcing the invasion of the neighborhood. Some dogs hid, others retreated a bit before resuming their chorus of barking. The most wary fled long before the catchers got near. Too bad. Getting caught could be the best thing that ever happened to them. (Gorman, 7/22)

The New York Times: Where Rabies Is Entrenched
Rabies has been known since antiquity, and has been completely preventable since Pasteur developed a vaccine more than a century ago. But the World Health Organization still considers it “a neglected disease of poor and vulnerable populations.” Why? Rabies, one expert has written, “became a neglected disease when it was eliminated from Europe and North America.” The vast majority of the estimated 59,000 human deaths each year from rabies are in Africa and Asia, in countries with large populations of free-roaming dogs that provide a so-called reservoir for the virus. (Gorman, 7/22)

The New York Times: Five Things To Know About Rabies
Nearly 60,000 people a year die from rabies around the world. The cause is almost always a bite by a rabid dog. Most of the deaths are in Africa and Asia. In Western Europe, the United States and other countries, the rabies variant that lives in populations of dogs has been eradicated, but people can still catch rabies from skunks, raccoons, bats and other animals. Bats are now the most common cause of rabies in the United States, but less than one percent of bats have rabies, and their contact with humans is infrequent. Only one to three people die each year from rabies in the United States. (Gorman, 7/22)