The role of vaccination in rabies prevention

Rabies vaccines have evolved from the first crude nerve tissue vaccines developed by Louis Pasteur and his colleagues in 1885. Currently, safe and efficacious rabies vaccines for humans and animals are produced in several cell culture systems with 10 vaccine regimens recommended by WHO and/or ACIP for pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis in humans. Rabies vaccines are a critical component in the strategy to reduce the dog rabies, the cause of 98% of all global human rabies deaths. However, eliminating rabies in the reservoir animal species is not possible without an intersectoral approach including collaboration between animal and human health experts. There is an urgent need to establish national risk assessment systems in regions where surveillance is limited to non-existent.