World Rabies Day 2022: Facts, History, Significance and much more

World Rabies Day is celebrated each year on September 28 as a tribute to Louis Pasteur - the inventor of the first effective rabies vaccine in the world. He died on 28 September 1895.

The day is observed to promote the fight against Rabies, raise awareness of its prevention, and celebrate the achievements the world has made against this deadly disease.

World Rabies Day 2022 Theme

• This year's World Rabies Day theme is: "One Health, Zero Death".

World Rabies Day History

Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) came up with the idea to celebrate World Rabies Day with the objective to consolidate the global fight against this deadly infectious disease. World Health Organization (WHO) supported the idea and thus World Rabies Day was born on 28 September 2007.

World Rabies Day Significance

The world has everything we need to prevent the death and casualty related to Rabies. Vaccines and Medicines are widely available and they are cheap. There are medical infrastructures with the required know-how to nip the disease in the bud. But it's sad that despite having all the necessary tools to prevent rabies, we have failed miserably. 60,000 death a year due to rabies is living proof of that. The primary reason is a lack of awareness among the masses regarding the severity of dog bites.

Rabies, and the casualty caused by it, can be prevented by increasing awareness among the masses, vaccinating dogs to prevent the spread of disease at the source, and administering life-saving treatment after people have been bitten.

The celebration intends to make the above points known to everyone.

Interesting Facts on Rabies

• While rabies is a 100% preventable disease, nearly 60,000 people die from the disease around the world each year.
• 95% of these deaths happen in Africa and Asia. And 40% of those victims are children.
• Dogs are the primary source of rabies infection in humans. In some cases, bats are the culprit as well.
• Zero by 30: Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC) along with WHO and other global bodies have set a goal of zero human dog-generated rabies deaths by 2030

Why do people take dog bites casually?

• People often take dog bites casually as rabies symptoms take time to appear, sometimes weeks.
• They consider the dog bite just as an external bite mark that will heal on its own. Little aware of the fact that the dangerous virus has penetrated inside.
• It is this casual approach of the masses that is fatal as once the clinical symptoms of rabies appear, it becomes almost impossible to save the patient.

Why do Rabies symptoms take time to appear?

• The rabies virus has to travel to the brain before it can cause symptoms.
• And this explains the delay.

Symptoms of Rabies

• Once you have been bitten by a dog, all you see and experience are bite marks and nothing else.
• Once the virus reaches the brain, it causes initial symptoms like weakness, discomfort, fever, headache and everything one feels during normal flu.
• As the disease progresses, the person may experience delirium, abnormal behaviour, hallucinations, hydrophobia (fear of water), and insomnia.
• No medicine or vaccine is likely to save you once these clinical signs appear.
• There are only 20 odd documented cases in the world where people have survived rabies having developed these symptoms.