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[Wallace] Rabies is the deadliest disease in the world.
It's caused by a virus that can infect any mammal.
Once the virus reaches your brain, there is no cure.
We can prevent rabies by vaccinating our animals.
In the United States we eliminated the virus
that circulates in dogs, but we still have the virus
in our wildlife such as foxes, skunks, raccoons, and bats,
and these still pose a threat to us and our domestic animals.
[Petersen] Fortunately, in the United States,
cases of human rabies are very rare.
We only see one to two cases of human rabies each year.
And this is due to the fact that we have effective animal control
and vaccination programs.
It's also due to the fact
that we have widely available rabies
post-exposure prophylaxis.
When administered correctly,
rabies post-exposure prophylaxis is very effective
in preventing infections with the rabies virus.
One problem in many countries
is that the rabies vaccine is not widely available
or may be very, very expensive.
Another issue is that sometimes people may not recognize
when an exposure has occurred.
Any animal contact such as a bite should be evaluated
by a medical professional.
CDC provides assistance to many countries
to help them improve their human rabies prevention
and control programs.
One way we do this is by providing training
to health professionals in order to help them evaluate people
who may have had animal contact
that might pose a risk for rabies.
We also provide training on how
to properly administer rabies post-exposure prophylaxis.
[Wallace] Haiti has one of highest rates
of human rabies deaths in the world.
We can eliminate rabies virus in dogs
by vaccinating 70% of the population.
We achieve this by doing mass vaccination campaigns.
However, in countries like Haiti where the majority
of the dogs are free-roaming,
it can be very difficult to access these dogs.
For example, in Haiti, we were assisting
with a mass vaccination campaign when we came across a house
that had six dogs in front of it.
The owner could not bring those dogs to us
because they were not used to being on leashes.
So our vaccinators had to capture them.
In the end, they only got one
of the six dogs, the other five ran.
We are educating dog owners on the importance
of rabies vaccination and we are training vaccinators
so they can safely handle dogs during mass
vaccination campaigns.
[Tran] In Vietnam, luckily vaccine is available everywhere.
However, it's very expensive,
it's about 30% of a person's salary.
Each year about 100 people die from rabies and many
of these people are ethnic minorities who live
in mountainous areas, so transportation and cost are two
of the barriers that occur in Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the challenge is
that people don't sometimes view their animal as a pet.
Therefore, not many people vaccinate, but the people
that do vaccinate their animal, they are very committed,
they would bring their dogs and cats by motorcycle, baskets,
by bicycle, to get their dogs vaccinated.
CDC is helping Vietnam by training their workforce
to respond to rabies outbreaks and other infectious disease.
That's integrating animal and human health together
so they can jointly respond to an outbreak.
We are helping them put data into action.
That means helping them examine their surveillance data
to really drive down to see what it means,
where are the cases occurring,
where are the dogs biting people most,
who is not getting post-exposure prophylaxis.
My grandmother and all of my family are still back
in Vietnam, so it's a very personal and meaningful
to be able to help a country that I was born
in to eliminate rabies.
Giup minh gan dai.
[Greenberg] Every year, over 2,700 people die
from rabies in Ethiopia.
In the past, Ethiopians looked to their dog populations
as their companions, their guardians, and their protectors,
but due to this burden of rabies in the community,
people have become scared of their own companions.
So by educating people in the community and teaching them what
to look for in a rabid dog, we can help rebuild
that relationship between humans and their dogs.
CDC is working in Ethiopia to help improve on how
to interpret a positive and negative rabies result.
It is so important that they are able to understand the results
of their testing in order to provide appropriate vaccination
for those in need or to keep unsafe animals off the street.
In working in Ethiopia, you become, you know,
invested in the people that you're working with and you talk
to so many people and you hear stories, personal stories,
of loss they've experienced due to rabies, and it makes you
so sad to know that this could be prevented with safe vaccine.
[Wallace] Many of these countries do not have the
resources to vaccinate enough dogs to halt transmission
and they also do not have enough vaccine to provide
to everybody who's been infected, and as a result,
we still have numerous human rabies deaths around the world.
[Petersen] Let World Rabies Day be a reminder of the risk
of rabies from contact with animals.
If you have an exposure from an animal such as a bite,
please wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water,
and visit a healthcare professional as soon as possible
in order to evaluate your risk of rabies.
[Wallace] Whether you are a vaccinator in a country
where dog rabies is still a problem or a pet owner here
in the United States, World Rabies Day is a reminder
that we all have a crucial role to play
in preventing this deadly disease.
Vaccinate your dogs and cats!
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