Rabies: control strategies for Himalayan states of the Indian subcontinent.

ABSTRACT

Rabies remains to be one of the most important direct zoonosis and is invariably fatal once the clinical symptoms appear. The disease can be prevented but still people continue to die of infection. India alone accounts to 81 per cent of the total deaths occurring due to rabies across the world. Dog is major reservoir of the infection, although other domestic and wild reservoirs also play an important role in the spread of the disease. A large population of stray dogs, availability of susceptible hosts, close proximity of animals and man and lack of effective control strategies might have led to endemic status of the disease in India. The effective control of rabies can be achieved through reduction of the stray dogs and stray livestock populations through implementation of animal birth control (ABC) programme and the proper induction of "herd immunity" by mass vaccination and awareness health programme. The increase in human population, changes in the environment, increased transportation, development of human habitations in new places and seasonal migration of the animals have resulted in the introduction of the infection to new territories and changes in the epidemiology of the disease in hills. Therefore, it is essential to design area specific control programmes so that the disease can be eliminated effectively.