Division of Disease Control and Health Protection

World Rabies Day - September 28

Florida Department of Health and partners Florida Department of Agriculture, Florida Animal Control Association, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Wildlife Rehabilitators Association and the Florida representatives for the United States Humane Society are in support of the World Rabies Day mission to raise awareness about: 1) the impact of human and animal rabies, 2) how easy it is to prevent rabies from occurring, and 3) how to eliminate the main global sources. 

Global Alliance for Rabies Control

(GARC) [edited] http://www.rabiescontrol.net/news/news-archive/annual-number-of-deaths-from-rabies-hits-70000-worldwide.html

Annual number of deaths from rabies hits 70,000
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) today [28 Sep 2011] announces that preliminary data released this month at the OIE Global Conference on Eliminating Rabies has estimated 70 000 people worldwide die each year from rabies at a cost of USD 4 billion.

The research, released to mark the importance of World Rabies Day [28 Sep 2011], shows that deaths from rabies are on the increase, with the disease reaching epidemic proportions in certain parts of the world.

It also confirms rabies as one of the most lethal zoonotic, or animal-transmitted diseases, killing more people each year than SARS, H5N1, and dengue fever, combined.
Although rabies is entirely preventable, controlling the disease has been elusive in large portions of the developing world due to a lack of resources with which to carry out vaccination programmes. The subsequent epidemic has wrought a disproportionate effect on the young, with one child dying every 10 minutes from the disease.

Rabies places a dreadful economic burden on the populations where it strikes, but this is only half the story, as it also brings untold pain and suffering to victims and survivors. This is made all the worse by the fact that we know it is preventable, and we call on governments and health authorities around the world to join us in taking action," said Professor Deborah Briggs, executive director, GARC.

"Research has proven that in those parts of the world where dog rabies is present and comprehensive dog vaccination programmes have been carried out in conjunction with an improvement in educational awareness and availability of human vaccines, deaths from rabies have been reduced to zero. Our pilot schemes show that we can replicate this success around the world, saving human and animal lives. With the right commitment, this problem could be addressed on a global scale,"
said Dr Elizabeth Miranda, Asian Coordinator, GARC.
 

Perspectives

"From a One Health perspective, controlling rabies infection is an excellent example of the power of human, veterinary, and public health communities joining forces to address a common issue. The historic strides in successful canine vaccination campaigns resulted in elimination of canine rabies virus strain in the United States and drastically decreased human cases of rabies. Yet the global view, with tens of thousands of human cases, stresses the urgency with which our work must continue. World Rabies Day is an excellent opportunity to increase the understanding of the necessity of this work and I commend the organizers of this Day as well as the tireless workers every day on preventing and controlling this One Health disease". - Dr. Lisa Conti, Associate Editor of the One Health Newletter.

The Division of Leon County Animal Control will join the list of international partners who are rallied towards Working Together to Make Rabies History! "Vaccinating your pet is the first line of defense in protecting not only your pet, but your family and community." -Richard Ziegler, President, FL Animal Control Association and Director of Leon County Animal Control

For more, please visit World Rabies Day Perspectives 

Florida Activities

PDF version of map (667 KB)   Table by County and Animal (PDF 58 KB)

Brevard Community College World Rabies PSA  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WntNqU2Rg1I

Santa Rosa County Health Department In observance of World Rabies Day, the Santa Rosa County Health Department and Santa Rosa County Animal Services will host the 2nd Annual Rabies Drive Thru Vaccination Clinic for dogs and cats, Friday, September 28, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 pm. at the Santa Rosa County Animal Shelter, 4451 Pine Forest Road in Milton.

Local veterinarians, Dr. Michael Mongue of Pace Veterinary Clinic, Dr. C. David Summerlin and Dr. Amy Harper of The Ark Animal Hospital, will administer the injections to dogs and cats.  The fee is $10.  Pets and owners will remain in the vehicle at all times.  No other services will be available at the clinic.  A certificate of vaccination and rabies tag will be provided for each pet that is vaccinated.

"We at the health department, and I know Animal Services as well, are extremely grateful to these veterinarians for taking time away from their own practices to provide this valuable service to the community," said Mary Beverly, epidemiologist with the Santa Rosa County Health Department.  "Last year 197 dogs and cats were vaccinated.  We are hoping to exceed that number this year."

For more information on additional happenings around the country and around the world, please visit www.worldrabiesday.org.

World Rabies Day Talking Points (83KB PDF)

For more rabies information from Florida Department of Health, visit our main page: http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment/medicine/rabies/rabies-index.html

Of the 2,114 cases reported in 2010, the largest proportion of exposed persons for whom treatment was recommended reported exposure to dogs (n=850, 46%). Other animals to which people were exposed include cats (n= 445, 24%), raccoons (n=241, 13%), and bats (n=144, 7%). Less numerous exposures included contact with foxes (16), horses (14), otters (12), squirrels (8), bobcats (5), non-human primates (4), opossums (3), ferrets (3), skunks (2), rats (2), a pig, a cougar, a cow and exotic animal species. Though horse exposures are generally low risk, the cases in 2010 were primarily due to exposure of rabies positive animals. However squirrels, rats, opossums, owned ferrets, and cattle are generally low risk species for rabies, and there were no cases of rabies reported in these species. Twenty percent of the animals involved in exposures were reported to be owned, 76% of these animals were dogs. Reasons for recommending PEP in cases involving owned animals included face bites, gun shot to the animal’s head, and captive wildlife that disappeared. In addition, PEP was inappropriately recommended in some of these cases. Most 2010 PEP cases involved exposure to stray (42%) or wild (23%) animals. Types of exposure were primarily bites (80%). Scratches were reported in 9% of cases, unknown 6%, other in 4% of cases, saliva in open wound (1.6%), handling (1.4%), bat in the room (1.3%) and saliva on a mucous membrane (<1%) were also reported. Face bites were reported in 99 cases (5%) and typically involved children (average case age years). Rabies PEP was recommended in 1,992 cases but treatment was only known to be initiated 70% of the time; reasons for PEP not being initiated included patient refusal or inappropriate treatment recommendation by the health care provider.