London – A new study has revealed that rabies kill around 160 people each day worldwide. Even though rabies is a preventable disease and can be prevented simply by investing in dog vaccination, people still neglect this simple option causing rabies deaths.
According to the experts, the virus transmitted through the bites of rabid dogs is around 100 percent fatal and is one of the few life-threatening causes that can be easily protected via timely vaccination.
The Global Alliance conducted the study for Rabies Control. It was the first study carried out to examine how rabies affects people across the countries. The statistics that came up were indeed alarming and revealed that around 59,000 people died of Rabies every year. However, the countries that have followed the dictum of seriously investing in dog vaccination were the ones where human death rates due to rabies were almost eliminated. Developed countries like the US and the UK seriously follow dog vaccination.
India and Pakistan Lead in Rabies Deaths
Researchers have said that countries that do not seriously invest in vaccinating dogs are responsible for an increase in the number of rabies deaths every year. It is essential that the mass dog vaccination program has to be conducted to eliminate the transmission of rabies.
According to Professor Louis Nel, the Executive Director of Global Alliance, no one should die of rabies and this can be made possible by improving the access of human vaccines across all the countries.
The study showed that deaths due to rabies occur more in poor countries. Although India records highest number of fatalities due to rabies every year, the death rate is the highest in countries where the vaccine is expensive such as in sub-Saharan Africa. Other countries that record higher deaths due to rabies include Africa and Pakistan.
Millions of people across the world have been disregarding the vaccination due to which this disease that could have been eliminated from our planet still is going strong. Yearly $8.6 billion are spent globally to eradicate rabies.
