Wildlife and exotic pets represent large reservoirs for emerging zoonoses.

Human rabies transmitted by dogs is considered a neglected disease that can be eliminated in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) by 2015. The aim of this paper is to discuss canine rabies policies and projections for LAC regarding current strategies for achieving this target and to critically review the political, economic and geographical factors related to the successful elimination of this deadly disease in the context of the difficulties and challenges of the region. The strong political and technical commitment to control rabies in LAC in the 1980s, started with the regional programme coordinated by the Pan American Health Organization. National and subnational programmes involve a range of strategies including mass canine vaccination with more than 51 million doses of canine vaccine produced annually, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, improvements in disease diagnosis and intensive surveillance. Rabies incidence in LAC has dramatically declined over the last few decades, with laboratory confirmed dog rabies cases decreasing from approximately 25 000 in 1980 to less than 300 in 2010. Dog-transmitted human rabies cases also decreased from 350 to less than 10 during the same period. Several countries have been declared free of human cases of dog-transmitted rabies, and from the 35 countries in the Americas, there is now only notification of human rabies transmitted by dogs in seven countries (Bolivia, Peru, Honduras, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala and some states in north and northeast Brazil). Here, we emphasize the importance of the political commitment in the final progression towards disease elimination. The availability of strategies for rabies control, the experience of most countries in the region and the historical ties of solidarity between countries with the support of the scientific community are evidence to affirm that the elimination of dog-transmitted rabies can be achieved in the short term. The final efforts to confront the remaining obstacles, like achieving and sustaining high vaccination coverage in communities that are most impoverished or in remote locations, are faced by countries that struggle to allocate sufficient financial and human resources for rabies control. Continent-wide cooperation is therefore required in the final efforts to secure the free status of remaining countries in the Americas, which is key to the regional elimination of human rabies transmitted by dogs.

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Human rabies transmitted by vampire bats reached new heights in Latin America in 2005. A total of 55 human cases were reported in several outbreaks, 41 of them in the Amazon region of Brazil. Peru and Brazil had the highest number of reported cases from 1975 to 2006. In Peru, outbreaks involving more than 20 cases of bat-transmitted human rabies were reported during the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, a smaller number of cases were reported from outbreaks in Brazil. A comparison of data from field studies conducted in Brazil in 2005 with those from the previous decade suggests similar bat-bite situations at the local level. The objective of this study was to review the epidemiological situation and, on the basis of this information, discuss possible factors associated with the outbreaks. Prevention and control measures already recommended for dealing with this problem are also reviewed, and some further suggestions are provided.

In 1983, the countries of the Americas, with support from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), pledged to eliminate human rabies transmitted by dogs 1 . The goal established was initially limited to the main cities and later extended to the entire Region, setting 2005 as the target date.Since then, through the Regional Program for the Elimination of Human Rabies Transmitted by Dogs, the countries have made great efforts to reach the goal, with remarkable success 2,3,4,5 . In the last 20 years, the number of cases of human and canine rabies in the Region has dropped by nearly 90% 6 .Eliminating human and canine rabies in the member states is a technical cooperation priority and key mandate for PAHO. To help analyze the extent to which the goal was reached, PAHO conducted a study entitled Elimination of Human Rabies Transmitted by Dogs in Latin America 7 to evaluate the rabies situation in the Region, resulting in this publication and a summary published in the PAHO Epidemiological Bulletin 8 . MethodologyPAHO developed standard methods 9 and sent each participating country an interactive CD-ROM with the study methodology and a bibliography pertaining to the subject area. Countries also received a diskette with an Excel spreadsheet