Control of Rabies as a Victim of Its Own Success: Perception of Risk within a Latin American Population

Of love and other demons: depicting human rabies in Colombia

“…Massive dog vaccination schemes using a new inactivated cell-culture-derived vaccine started in 1989, and the prevalence of canine rabies decreased from more than 3000 in 1990 to 70 in 2007 [ 44 ]. Since then, Latin American countries have seen a decline of 95% in the prevalence of human rabies [ 45 ]. However, economic, social, and cultural disparities in some peripherical areas threaten the success of major rabies-related health politics in Latin America [ 43 , 46 ].…”

“…Some countries have relaxed their control measures against rabies viral transmission (e.g., by suspending mass canine vaccination and obtaining fewer doses of post-exposure prophylaxes), which may increase the rate of rabies in dogs and, potentially, the rate of transmission to humans [ 9 , 45 , 65 ]. At the time of writing this manuscript, there is an ongoing rabies epidemic in Arequipa, Peru, due to a decrease in dog vaccination coverage, decreased surveillance, and increased survival times of infected canines [ 66 ].…”

Indicadores demográficos de canes y felinos con dueño en el distrito de Lince, Lima-Perú, 2020

“…De las enfermedades mencionadas, la rabia destaca por su capacidad de producir inexorablemente la muerte de las personas y animales afectados, una vez que se presentan signos clínicos (Escobar et al, 2015). El perro es responsable del mantenimiento del ciclo urbano y entre las principales medidas de control se encuentran la vacunación de la población canina, la vigilancia epidemiológica sensible y activa, y la sensibilización y educación de la población en tenencia responsable de animales de compañía (Rocha, 2020).…”