Zero by 2030 and OneHealth: The multidisciplinary challenges of rabies control and elimination
D. Katterine Bonilla‐Aldana, Julián Ruíz-Saenz, Marlén Martínez‐Gutierrez, Wilmer E. Villamil‐Gómez, Hugo Mantilla-Meluk, Germán Arrieta, Darwin A. León‐Figueroa, Vicente A. Benítes-Zapata, Joshuan J. Barboza, Águeda Muñoz del Carpio Toia, Oscar H. Franco, Maritza Cabrera, Ranjit Sah, Jaffar A. Al‐Tawfiq, Ziad A. Memish, Fatma Amer, José Antonio Suárez, Andrés F. Henao‐Martínez, Carlos Franco‐Paredes, Alimuddin Zumla, Alfonso J. Rodríguez‐Morales
Abstract
"Rabies, caused by a negative strand RNA-virus belonging to the \ngenus Lyssavirus (family Rhabdoviridae of the order Mononegavirales), \nremains of global concern [1]. This vaccine-preventable viral zoonotic \ndisease is present in more than 150 countries and territories [2]. Ac- \ncording to the World Health Organization (WHO), rabies is estimated to \ncause ~59,000 human deaths annually, with 95% of cases occurring in \nAfrica and Asia [3,4]. However, rabies still occurs in other regions, such \nas Latin America and the Caribbean [5–8], Central Asia and the Middle \nEast [9,10]. Whilst a number of animals can host the rabies virus, dogs \nare the main source of human rabies deaths, contributing up to 99% of \nall rabies transmissions to humans. Dog-mediated rabies has been \neliminated from Western Europe, Canada, the United States of America \n(USA), Japan and some Latin American countries [11]. Nevertheless, the \nrisk of reintroduction and disease among travellers to risk areas is a \nmatter of concern [12–15]. As occurred with many other communicable \nand non-communicable diseases, the 2020–2022 COVID-19 pandemic \nnegatively impacted the efforts of control and reemergence of rabies in \ncertain countries [7,16,17]. Post-pandemic challenges to enhance con- \ntrol and prevention are multiple and need urgent actions to achieve the \ngoal in eight years by 2030 [16]."