Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Volume 92, Number 4, April 2014, 229-308
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/92/4/en/
Editorial
Human rabies in India: a problem needing more attention
Alakes Kumar Kole a, Rammohan Roy a & Dalia Chanda Kole b
a. Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Hospital 57, Beliaghata Main Road, Kolkata-700010, West Bengal, India.
b. BP Poddar Hospital & Medical Research Institute, Kolkata, India.
Correspondence to Alakes Kumar Kole
Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2014;92:230. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.14.136044
Initial text
Rabies is fully preventable. About 563 million United States dollars are spent annually in the world on measures to prevent rabies,1 yet in countries of south-eastern Asia the disease is still an important public health problem. An estimated 45% of all deaths from rabies occur in that part of the world.2 The situation is especially pronounced in India, which reports about 18 000 to 20 000 cases of rabies a year and about 36% of the world’s deaths from the disease.3 Rabies incidence in India has been constant for a decade, without any obvious declining trend, and reported incidence is probably an underestimation of true incidence because in India rabies is still not a notifiable disease.4 This situation is rooted in a general lack of awareness of preventive measures, which translates into insufficient dog vaccination, an uncontrolled canine population, poor knowledge of proper post-exposure prophylaxis on the part of many medical professionals, and an irregular supply of anti-rabies vaccine and immunoglobulin, particularly in primary-health-care facilities.