A review of the world epidemiology of rabies

A number of countries throughout the world have been free from rabies for many years; some are reported to have eliminated the disease and in others it has reappeared after variable periods of time. Apart from these minor variations, however, the global distribution of rabies over the last five to ten years appears unchanged and the disease continues to pose both public health and economic problems of varying severity in all continents except Australia and Antarctica. Most of the data presented here are abstracted from the most recent surveys of the World Health Organization, the Annual Rabies Summary for the United States and the Pan American Zoonoses Centre's "Rabies Surveillance for the Americas". The vagaries of international reporting, accurate in some cases and undoubtedly imprecise in others, demand a cautious interpretation of the available data and suggest that the world picture be viewed as an impression rather than as a precise record.