Working Together To Make Rabies History!

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 24 Sep 2008 - 9:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Organisations around the world will be aiming to raise awareness and understanding about the importance of rabies prevention on the second annual World Rabies Day on September 28. Rabies is known as the 'oldest and deadliest disease known to mankind' and the BVA, through its Overseas Group, is supporting this initiative.

Led by the Alliance for Rabies Control (ARC) and supported by numerous animal and human health organisations around the world, the global campaign seeks to reinforce the message that rabies is a preventable disease, yet kills 55,000 people each year - approximately one person every ten minutes. Almost half the fatalities are children. The executive director of the ARC, Dr Debbie Briggs, said: 'Rabies is primarily a disease of children, who are particularly at risk from this terrible disease due to their close contact with dogs, the major global source.'

To coincide with this year's event the BVA is delighted to announce that the recipient of the Trevor Blackburn Award for 2008 will be Dr Sarah Cleaveland, a veterinary epidemiologist whose work on zoonotic, livestock and wildlife diseases in East Africa has included extensive programmes on rabies control: she has implemented mass dog vaccination campaigns of 200,000 dogs annually that have prevented hundreds of human and animal rabies deaths in the Serengeti. Dr Cleaveland spearheaded the establishment of the Alliance for Rabies Control in 2006 which has provided, for the first time, a focus for international advocacy for global canine rabies elimination.

World Rabies Day is organised by the ARC and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the USA. Partners in the event include many drug and vaccine manufacturers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization, as well as the BVA, the World Veterinary Association, the Commonwealth Veterinary Association, the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe and other veterinary associations.

Events around the world on the day will include extensive media coverage and information distribution, as well as vaccination drives, free clinics and public lectures in rabies endemic countries. Another focus of World Rabies Day is fund-raising for rabies prevention and control programmes; from last year's event the ARC was able to fund five projects in 2008.

BVA President Nick Blayney said: "Most cases of rabies occur in Asia and Africa, but Britain remains at risk. Classical rabies was declared to be eradicated from the UK in 1922 but there are fears that illegal imports of animals could reintroduce the disease to the native animal population. In April this year, two dogs imported from Sri Lanka were found to be infected with the rabies virus in a UK quarantine centre - an incident that highlighted the effectiveness and value of the UK's six-month quarantine requirement for imported dogs and cats. Within the European Union since 2005, cases have been reported in 16 member states from Finland to Bulgaria to Spain. It is for this reason there are European regulations covering the movement of animals, including specific requirements for rabies susceptible species such as pet dogs, cats and ferrets entering the UK. The BVA believes these regulations are an important tool in balancing the free movement of animals with the risk of spreading diseases such as rabies."

Notes

1. Dr Cleaveland will be speaking at the forthcoming BVA Congress on the importance of the control of animal diseases in the fight against poverty during the Overseas Group's session which seeks to highlight the varied roles of the veterinary profession within international development and underline the need for vets to be included in multi-disciplined approaches to poverty reduction.

2. For further information on World Rabies Day visit http://www.worldrabiesday.org and the Alliance for Rabies Control http://www.rabiescontrol.net

3. For further information on BVA Congress and the BVA Overseas Group visit www.bva.co.uk or contact Helena Cotton.

4. In celebration of the first World Rabies Day last year, The Veterinary Record published a special feature with commissioned articles from leading experts.

British Veterinary Association